I love making this healthier version of granola over store bought. It is less fat and sugars then what I buy too. Totally diabetic friendly since Honey and maple sugar has a low glycemic index plus with the fibers it helps cancel out the carbs. I had some this morning and posted this on Facebook for a cousin of mine. I thought you all on Xanga would like this too. Here is a picture I took this morning in its container.

I got the original recipe out of newsweek years ago but altered it here and there to make it even healthier without losing taste. It saves me a lot of money since granola is my kids favorite. Granola is really expensive!

I had some this morning with my accidental goat milk yogurt. HA I thought it was Greek. I was shocked to see that it was goat milk yogurt I was eating. I had an aversion to anything Goat related but this was very yummy and tangy.  I am over my goat milk discrimination.  Anyway here it is just for you.

 

Ikwa’s homemade granola

Ingredients:

2 cups Old fashioned oats

1/2 cup wheat germ or ground flax meal if you want it gluten free. (I actually use both.)

2 Tbsp honey or molasses

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 Tbsp flavorless oil. (I use coconut oil.)

1Tbsp water

A single flavoring  (These examples at your choice are: 1 tsp Cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp ground or grated ginger, 1/2 orange or lemon zest and/or  3/4 tsp Almond extract. Choose one or if you want I use cinnamon and ginger)

1 Cup extra ingredient   (Those examples are: almonds,  flake coconut, cashews, chia seeds, flax seeds, chopped banana chips, chopped pecans or any other nuts, and my favorite  sunflower seeds. Just makes sure any combination equals one cup.)

Optional: 1/2 cup Dried fruit of choice (to be added after baking 30 minutes)

 Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven at 275 degrees. Oil Coat a 9X13 inch metal pan with cooking spray (or rub with coconut oil)

 

Stir together in large bowl the dry ingredients. Oats, wheat germ or flax, extra cup ingredient but not dried fruit.

In a small sauce pan stir the honey, salt, maple syrup, oil, and water and stir over low heat until simmering.

Then drizzle hot liquid over dry and stir with large spoon to combine. When cooled mix with hands and squeeze granola mixture to create clumps and. pour into baking pan. Bake for 30  minutes and then stir in dried fruit and bake an additional 15 minutes until a golden brown. Let cool and store in air tight container.

Makes a quart and good for up to two weeks if stored properly (or you can freeze on storage baggies if making a large batch.)

……………………………..

As you see it is very easy recipe. It is very healthy and delicious.   Let me know if you make it. I am interested in seeing if you liked it.

Enjoy!

 

     Recently  I have been feeling bad about not being able to feel happy. I asked to up my depression medication with my doctor. Yeah I suffer from Depression. It is a genetic thing I think. My earliest memories are seeing my mom cry  and not want to get out of bed. I think back now and I think she was bi-polar. Really she had so many ups and downs it was like living in a three ring circus growing up with her. She took most of her aggression out on me being the oldest girl. She couldn’t be angry with my dad but she let me have it when she was mad at him. It made a very unhealthy relationship.

I always was a moody kid too when I wasn’t being scared and shy. I really hated life growing up and wished everyday I was a normal middle class white girl. To me they always looked happy. I would escape in an imaginary world where I picked who I was and no one could change that person unless I willed it. Yeah it sounds weird but It is how I coped. I got over that in my teen years and found that my heritage to be a source of pride I didn’t have in myself alone. I found strength in knowing how my ancestors lived so I could exist. It gave me a purpose in life even though I still struggled pretty badly with depression.

When I had my second child, it was the first time a medical professional cared how I felt,  when I had a (normal to me) crying jag in the hospital bathroom. Later I realized  the doctors were really scared I would hurt my baby with postpartum depression. Oh so It wasn’t me again. Ha! I was told to talk to my doctor who put me on Lexapro. It was the first time I felt Normal. The first time I could actually say I feel good and like getting up in the morning. I was so glad to be on them.

The last 12 years I have been on and off meds. At times I can cut back but it never fails in spring I get a depression problem. It isn’t like I am suicidal or anything but when I should be happy I can’t feel it. Even when happy things are happening to me. I learned to mask it well and I noticed my horrible negative attitude was coming back.  I have to be my best advocate I learned be cause with all my coping mechanisms in place it didn’t help me face the real problem. I am depressed again. 

It is really a disease and my doctor said that if anyone should know it best it would be me. That I should not feel guilty when I need help or need my  meds. I was depressed I was depressed again! ha!  MD is so great and she encourages me so much. 

Why

 I am spilling my beans about this is because I know that many people suffer from this and don’ t get help.  I wish they would and stop feeling upset about not being able to control their own feelings when it clearly isn’t their fault.

 

 

 

 

 

Ok confession! I woke up with a sinus infection and decided to use antibiotics I had from a few other times that I saved up. I have enough for ten days.   Do you ever do that? I know its bad but I had infections so frequently in the past I know what I am dealing with, dizzy, nausea, sinus drainage, & severe headache.  I just went to the Doctor Monday and don’t want to go again. Yes i am really being dumb and stubborn but it means my husband has to take off work again this week and he has twice already. Aaron was brought home sick yesterday from school. I hate that I cannot drive myself or the kids.  

So I resorted to taking old pills and home remedies. Sigh* 

 

 

Once a year my Korean drama group forum has a dinner. I got my very understanding husband to take me to the foray last Saturday in NJ. HAHA! He is quite the champion for me in this K-raziness.

There were quite a few newer people there that I hardly know and it was nice to get to see them in person. I am really shy so I missed a few and want to get a bolder face on next time.I sat with some new ladies and it was nice to get to know some fellow fans my age mind you! What is interesting is the room is a mix of cultures so I am not the only woman of color there but of different culture there.

The food was by a great catering service from NJ called Sammy Chon’s K-town BBQ. He has restaurants in NJ and PA. He is a facebook friend of mine too. The food was so Awesome. He had Korean tacos which was a rice cake folded and fried into a taco shell shape and added chicken, slaw and dressing. It was so good. You can see the half eaten on my plate up there on the right on the photo LOL. I almost forgot to take a picture of the food and was digging in… HA!

But here was the best part, door prizes and video bargains.

I got a t-shirt, an iron on decal of my favorite drama Faith, a cute boy and girl magnets in their hanboks, a Korean pop star magazine, candy, a necklace and K-drama dvds.  I am not big into Korean Pop music I must say but they tend to be in a lot of the dramas. My favorite Korean Pop group has to be 2NE1 which if you google you will see they are very famous not only in Korea. That is one of the groups singers on the cover too.

My favorite video from them because I absolutely love this song….

 

Oppa is so cute! he-he but I am an adjumma, he is too young for me I should call him Dongseng. I think…

Here is another LOL I play this when I am upset with my husband, HAHA!

 

These are some of their older songs but I love them.

 

But back to K-Dramas I love learning about Korean culture this way too. I like that in their culture that they have such an important emphases on being respectful to their elders. I reminds me of my own. In fact there was one drama that the father looked so much like my father I cried when he was sad and got so angry at the kids who were not respectful of him. He died at the end I thought  I would not stop crying. It really made me miss my daddy. I really get involved emotionally to these Korean Dramas But once again I babble on and on about my weird side here…LOL OH WELL!

  

 

 

Here are some of the ones I watched. Boys over Flowers was my favorite and Full House my least. Even though Rain is so cute. I think I talked about this before but HA I can’t help but mention that again. I need to make a master list someday LOL.

OK I had to divulge my self a bit. Enjoy

I am now an official immigrant with an Alien number Now! YAY but no word on when I get my paperwork. I just got a confirmation number is all.

This is even though my mother was US citizen when she had me. It is so strange to think I have less rights than a person who was born here by undocumented parents. I cannot get squat. Even though I have in the past. I am glad I am on the right path now to getting legal but I never knew I wasn’t before. I have voted, dtiven, worked and even got married with my past paperwork.

Anyway I feel we do need immigration reform. Yeah something not so stupid. I mean I am not hating those immigrants children but I think we need to make it easier to have the right documentation and not change laws every few years t make it harder. Stream line the system so to speak. Actually get to meet a person face to face not just through a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo!! Lawyers have made a who living off this junk. I kind of refuse to get a lawyer on account it feel kind of slighted by a system that caters to the rich. Plus with all the Government cut backs I don’t think the process is going to get easier and faster. It fosters more illegals if you ask me.

Oh And being of a certain race, religion, and nationality shouldn’t be a question. People are trying to say we shouldn’t let others in because they are bad well we have plenty o’ bad right here that is homegrown.

Saw this on Facebook and felt I needed to share.

 

Hate Breeds hate so it isn’t like it is prone to a certain type of people. Americans can be just as bad to Humanity.

I find it all humorous I am going through this when my father is a full blooded, card carrying, First Nations person and Moms ancestors came over practically on the mayflower and live in the USA for years.. LOL Oh the Irony!

Anywho I had to complain again and it looks like I will be complaining until December since that is what the Website says it could take for me to find out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been walking around the neighborhood recently and love the flowers I encounter on my way. I just have to share because nothing says spring like spring blossoms.

 

These Tulips and Grape Hyacinths are in my own garden.

Also in my front flower bed are small yellow daffodils. This one looks like it is shy, trying to hide its face with its leaves it seems. I think stories up like this all the time. HA!

 

 

This is the tree on my neighbors front yard that I love! It hides the front doors between us like a privacy curtain.

These pink pompoms are in the shopping center I walk around.  I love walking there when these are in bloom.

These yellows are in the front of our communities pond.

 

These whites were from a tree I saw while taking a short cut through the woods.

I love this little walkway through the woods.

 

 

 

 

This is behind a row of town houses in my neighborhood and beside it runs a small creek. It was really nice to walk here with all the birds rustling in the bushes twittering about making nests and what else.

This picture turned out so good. The small white petals lining the walk made it almost magical. It really is a small path through the woods to the road. You can see the yellows in the first pictures in the distance. I t was a good short cut through the neighborhood. I have to be careful though because I know that it has been said that homeless families live in those woods. Kind of sad too.

When I come home a cute other face is there to greet me. A fuzzy little ball of fur or as I call him Fuzz face…

Hope you enjoyed my walk pictures.

 

 

Had a few more pictures from last week. I have been getting over a really bad stomach virus the whole week and have a bit of scattered brain too. So I have been laying low playing sims 3 and building imaginary houses.

I love BIG old homes and wish I could live in one some day again. My family had a big old home that we lived at in Thunder Bay ON, Canada growing up. I loved that house even though it was haunted. Yes I say Haunted because unless you encounter a spirit, you will never believe, I did.

I bet this house is super haunted  It doesn’t scare me so much anymore because they really don’t do anything but spook you a bit.

 

 

 

Moi I was loving this…but glad I don’t have a house so big like  this I have to clean.

 

 

 

Some of the grounds surrounding the home.

Ok that end my pictures for that subject.

I opened another with the whole spirits thing. I don’t mind talking about them. So here I go.

My other sister, FMM, has actually see spirits in her adulthood too but I have not. I asked God as a child to never let me see them since the voices alone scared me. I am glad I haven’t to this day. I believe God closed my eyes to it and have never seen a form. I have seen shadows looming over me but never an actual apparition. WHEW I am a scaredy cat. Opening up here but I was plagued as a child by a bad spirit and this is why I believe in Christ Jesus.  I prayed for Christ’s protection and He gave it. I felt the warmth of his power in my room at age 8. I heard Him say to me to tell them to GO AWAY! I will never forget the peace of knowing my angel was there making those things go away too. It was a blissful sleep after being tortured every night emotionally for month. I never told my parents until after the ordeal. That is how I was saved.

I have prayed numerous times for protection and got it.

One example is when Leif was very sick and ( I though possibly dying) in the hospital, ( he was unable to breath) a presence came to us both to comfort us. Leif said he felt and saw it too and we talked about it together after he got better and out of the hospital. Also I knew his angel was there. I slept fitfully at first but then more peaceful after I saw the Angel in my dream leaning over him in his bed. God told me LEIF was not  going to die in my dream.  I also felt the calm when all was chaos inside my head. I thought I was losing my son at that time ( and my mind .)

The Doctors didn’t know what was wrong with Leif, why he was so short of breath for hours and why the usual Asthma treatments were not working. His lungs wouldn’t open up. I lost my mother to Asthma and I was going crazy in my head! I prayed in the Name of Jesus for the Doctors to find out what was wrong with him. I have a very strong faith in Jesus, why I am Christian. Eventually Leif came around but only after I found strength to yell at the Doctor to give him a Benadryl. I just had this strong feeling it would work. They refused to listen to me and I had to threaten to take him elsewhere. So they gave in, gave it to him to appease me, and it worked enough to get him oxygen not to pass out. They said we were minutes to going to the ICU having Leif in critical condition.

Also that same night after the strange treatment worked  the on-call doctor called in an expert Asthma Doctor to assess when they wouldn’t listen to me but found that the Benadryl worked. The DR found another good solution too, a bi-pap machine. The ones they use for sleep apnea. They were sure he had sleep apnea. ( Later tests at the sleep lab said he didn’t) 0_0 I don’t know why to this day that worked since it wasn’t a protocol treatment for asthma attacks. They said he had Acid reflux but later testing showed he didn’t have that too. The forced air in his lungs saved him and they still don’t know why.  Thank God it did! We went to several specialist after the hospital trips and every test came up negative for what they thought was wrong with him. The Hospital on-call doctors were mad at me that night and had come into the room to argue with me but since I stuck to my instincts I had my son’s life. God gave me strength to tell them since up to then I had no clue or reason why I felt this would work. If you know me I am mouse about such things, and would never try and supersede expert advice.

ANOTHER example is while visiting my in-laws in NY last year, Leif told me he felt something all night at breakfast time. (FYI We never talk about this kind of stuff except that once in the hospital.) I said ME TOO! I felt it watching me and it woke me up. I never saw it, mind you, but I felt it and knew that feeling back from when I was a child. I never thought about it when we slept there before. Honestly it was the last thing on my mind and I had slept there before but never was bothered. They were doing some work to the house and I think we were sleeping in what was the servants quarters. It is a very old house. Leif said it didn’t scare him and I instructed to tell them to just ” leave me alone and let me sleep!” firmly! It worked but now I know that Leif is also very Spiritual in that aspect like me. Now we talk about it more. HONESTLY I though he was a skeptic of spiritual things since I don’t talk much about religion and things of that nature with him. Kind of glad since I don’t feel alone in this. My husband doesn’t believe at all and thinks I am a tad nuts. I am glad my family understands and has This Gift like I do.

I know I sound bizarre to some but a Native American Indian you grow up knowing about the Spiritual world. It is part of our religious up bringing and it is very real. I do not mess with it!!!! I am not about to mess with it because I saw how others did and got more than they bargained for and didn’t know what to do with that presence in their home. I Would NEVER invite them in! It is a power little understand and should not try to. My warning for today.

WHEW That was a lot of one posting. Anyway I would love to hear anyone else’s stories on this “Gift” subject.

Oh BTW Leif still has Asthma but I know he will be fine as long as I know there is a God.

 

 

This comedian said it best!

I have been a fan of Patton Oswalt since King of Queens. I just didn’t know how articulate he could be. He gave me something to think about in my depressed state. I was so upset today and couldn’t think clearly because the Boston attacks, Attack on humanity of any kind of get to me. Anyplace, anywhere in the world, where there is human tragedy, I get this helpless feeling and wonder why? Why are people so evil? Why are people so callus to the life of others. It makes me really sad. I wonder about it so deeply it hurts to think.

 

I am really sick of the hateful things I read. I think its time for some to grow up by stop reacting with hateful words towards anyone. No one deserves this NO one. There is not one good reason to say it. So Shut UP!

 

I was so glad to read this I had to share. He is right. We good folk out number the bad. And I plan to keep being a Good person regardless how anyone tries to affect my thinking. We need to stop pointing fingers of blame and hate and try and do something positive for others. Work toward the greater good with hopeful thoughts, prayers, and hands.

 

 

 

 

One perk of the grounds was to tour the mansion. I never have been in a mansion before and this was exciting. They have guided tours since you are not allowed to walk where ever you please inside.

I especially liked this room which had imported hand painted wallpaper from China. And people think imports from China was a new American thing? Ha! guess again.

 

 

 

We were not allowed to walk anywhere unescorted by our guide. I guess they were worried about theft. SO many Priceless items laying around.

 

Whimmy at the bottom of the stairs.

 

I did notice that the beds were a lot smaller than I would have thought.

 

Mr. Dupont was a collector and collected so many things but one of his most beloved treasure hunting was Americana type china, paintings, and furniture. There was room after room of collections he had collected and he made rooms just for displaying them.

 

 

I want to point out how the Duponts were made famous and rich, it was Gun Powder. I toured the Gun Powder factories before at Hagley Museum. They turned to Chemicals later on.  There is a link to that and how the Hemp industry lost out due to Cannabis laws.

 

 

This room above was made just for show and never used.

 

This was a bunch of tankards that Paul Revere made Mr. DuPont collected.

The Formal dinning room has a famous portrait of President George Washington. The whole place reminded me Downton Abby.

We might have got rid of Kings and Queens, Lords and Ladies and all that type order but Capitalism made Royalty for us.

The place was endless beauty but a reminder of how crazy money can make you by hoarding.

While sitting on the balcony for a break, Whimmy and I imagined at how it would have been like to live there as a kid.

Any who I have more PICTURES for tomorrow. ENJOY

 

 

 

Last Tuesday youngest sister Whimmy and I went to Winterthur mansion. It was owned by the DuPont family. Pricey but worth day two days they offer to tour the house and grounds. We didn’t even get to see the whole house the first visit and we didn’t get a second since Whimmy was my ride and had to work the next day.  Here is the official website so you can read up on the place. Winterthur Museum Garden and Library. Here are some of the pictures I took.

 

 

 

Do you see a bench?

 

 

 

 

 

Some one in a nest by the kid play houses

 

 

 

Whimmy being cute as always

 

Some Old lady peeking out her house.

I liked what this said, Tongues in trees, Songs in running brooks, Sermons in stones, and Good in Everything. ~ Shakespeare

 

The Photos are having a hard time loading and positioning on my page here so I’ll post more tomorrow.