His father asked him three times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied,
‘That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home,
And I wanted to stay with you guys.’

Thanks for the new info. I went back over some of your earlier instructions to reenergize my exercises. These new ones are great.

Our friendly neighborhood golden retriever JoJo has a new “job,” I recently learned… he and his owner are a pet therapy team at the local hospital, making rounds a few times a week to see patients staying overnight or longer. I thought that was a nice thing for them to do when I heard about it — and I’m even more impressed now that I’ve seen research affirming that JoJo’s work really can make a difference… so much so, in fact, that I think doctors ought to write prescriptions for it. In one trial, people who spent time with dogs while recovering from surgery needed significantly less pain medication than those who did not.

WHO LET THE DOGS IN?

At Edward Hospital in Naperville, Illinois, investigators measured the impact of dog visits on how much pain medication patients required after total joint replacement surgery, collecting data on 87 patients who received five- to 15-minute dog visits and an equal number of patients who chose not to receive the visits.

Factoring in a range of variables, including age, gender and length of hospital stay, researchers found that…

Patients who received dog visits required half as much pain medication as those who didn’t.
The timing of visits (morning, afternoon or evening) didn’t matter.
The largest difference between the groups was on the first and second post-op day.
Julia Havey, RN, of Loyola University Health System, presented these results at the 18th Annual Conference of the International Society of Anthrozoology and the First Human Animal Interaction Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, in November 2009.

PRESCRIPTION FOR HEALING: A PET

Of course, it won’t come as a surprise to any pet owner that “animal-assisted therapy has a positive effect on patients’ psychosocial, emotional and physical well-being,” as Havey explains. She told me that previous research has demonstrated that friendly animal interactions can lower stress and blood pressure… improve immune system function… distract you from your pain and illness… increase your sense of well-being… and decrease loneliness. Also important — this medical intervention is inexpensive and very safe.

Sometimes a simple touch is what’s missing in modern technological settings, muses Havey. Petting a dog or cat can fill this void, so it is good to hear that more and more hospitals, nursing homes and other types of health-care facilities are instituting pet therapy for patients who are open to giving it a try. Pet therapy is not just sweet, it’s also healing in its own right.

Source(s):

Julia Havey, RN, researcher and senior systems analyst, department of medical center information systems, Loyola University Health System (LUHS), Maywood, Illinois.

Here is another link, from a writer friend, in reference to some thoughts yesterday.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/calling_all_rebels_20100308/

Anonz, sweet pea, I will always have your back here, I’d love to tell you I’d have your back there and be able to pull you and your men out a jeep when necessary also. I’ll leave that to the lovely people of Sudan to assist you and I’ll just keep sending those positive vibes for your safety as I do every day bc that’s just the way I roll.

I DO like the lioness remark : ) that made my day, the lioness is my favorite creature, have you ever watched one closely…they sit silent (quite Zen looking, I must say) and regal though perched on their front legs alert to sighting/hearing anything threatening moving on the outskirts of her mate and prides’ environment, when she stands up to roar, she’ll make your hair fly back, and hahaha…she’ll kick ass and take names, too, if she has to, Yeah…I’m just like that.
Thanks for noticing : )

I am bummed to hear that fuel will be going up again, in general, most people are feeling pretty pessimistic and you can’t blame them, there’s no end to the fleecing lately. But…I just keep on keeping on…I did want to reiterate what Anonz said, especially those who get caught up in what he is rather than who he is and what he’s trying to convey, here it is:

Stop us by (1) insisting that special interest groups not be allowed to lobby congress. (2) Out law PAC’s political contributions (3) get your Congress to fix the opinion rendered by the bought and paid for 6 of the Supreme Court who ruled that corporations can spend as much as they want on political issues and candidates.

Take his advice or not and reap the fleecing. rant and vote, here and anywhere.

Howie, my kids would like to know your prognosis and any other info re: your health situation, we did a fly-by over Florida while in Superwoman/superman pose, they love that : ) the kids call me YogaLilly, funny huh, I kind of like it, almost as much as ZenLilly : )

OK, now I’d like to address the women of MM blog…
I was walking a friend through a workout and found myself explaining about primary, secondary and terciary muscles being worked. So, I want you to think of each exercise you do this way, you can either do the exercise and work that one body part or you can bring attention to several things and get secondary and terciary benefits, so when you are fast walking think of your G note in your crack as your primary, squeezing your inner thigh muscles and reaching your torso up (as in lengthening) as secondary and keeping your shoulders rolled up, back and down (with ‘ta’s north’ as Al says) as your terciary group, she did the same exercise I showed her with this attention to detail and slowing down the entire movement and was amazed at the intensity of the action.

So, here’s a waist slimmer for you…grab a 5, 7.5 or a 10 lb weight. Stand tall (the usual with G note in crack, ta’s up, etc…which is always your secondary and terciary beneficiaries), spread your legs approx shoulder width apart, hold the weight in your right hand, hand facing towards your thigh, lean right keeping biceps and triceps engaged, do not release either muscle the entire time : ) hard but you can do it, do the right leaning only till you feel the stretch in that oblique muscle (left side at waist, it’s a very specific stretch, you will feel that special inch) hold it there for 1 count, come up slowly (2 count) and then repeat 15x’s on right side, switch weight to left hand and repeat 15x’s on this side, do 3 sets each side, build up to 6 sets per side…you’ll like the way this nips and cinches the core area, makes you curvy without losing the boot-tay ; ) and we’re building lat muscles with this for that fab visual of the hourglass : )

so – take a 5lb weight in each hand, feet together (same posture as usual) lift both weights up to shoulder height on a 3 count, hold for 1 count, down for 3 count, nice and slow, repeat 10x’s and do 3 sets, this is shoulders but if you’re engaging your triceps and biceps (bring attention to these muscles and squeeze em’) try not to lift your shoulders up to your ears, you should feel a relaxed positioning in this exercise.

You’ll have killer shoulders and that really nice mild ‘dent’ in your arms right near the bicep, yum, it’ll look as good as if not better than Michelle Obama’s arms, tomorrow, we’ll review/get new bicep and lat exercises with free weights.

Fakey risotto : ) not that there’s anythinng wrong with real risotto but this is an easy to cook version and it’s chock o bock full of protein, here it is, mushroom risotto (add something else, chicken or shrimp pieces if you hate fungi): Heat a pan with spray oil and sprinkle salt and pepper in the bottom, your going to sear slices of portobello mushrooms, usually 60-90 seconds per side or till browned, set aside. Now, take 1 cup cooked quinoa, drizzle with olive oil and heat in microwave for 1 minute, when you take it out mix in 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese until smooth, chop the mushrooms up and toss them in, it’s so good, you’ll be loving this…I always make leftovers and toss the whole warmed up thing into a salad later, it looks like a train wreck but it is amazing and again, it’s your protein, when you really look at the variations for a veg-head lifestyle there are som many more choices than just fish/chicken or beef, yawn…! Try it, I think you might like it : )

Ok, I need new workout clothes so off to the store I go! Hi ho hi ho, working will have to wait : ) Luv, Zen Lill