Stormy Body

Since the move to Germany my body has been in a storm. After that gluten shock I've been ultra sensitive to a lot more foods. Foods such as peanuts and even meat. Days I do not eat meat I feel well. On days with meat I feel sluggish and tired. The stress of having a very full time job is getting to me. My plan is to eat very, very mindfully. Every time I eat it's like going to therapy. I've done well today. An apple and kiwi for breakfast and vegan cabbage soup for lunch. All fruit and vegetables but yet I fell better than normal. Normal! haha. For me normal is not a pretty thing. I made friends with this lady who told me I should be diagnosed for celiac instead of just assuming that I have the disease. That comment freaked me out. It made me think what if I have something worse than celiac sprue. With no way to be tested (I don't have insurance) I guess I just have to be at peace with that. Of course I'll be skillful and listen to my body. And my body is saying no gluten, no dairy, no meat, no peanuts, no soy and no nuts. So it sucks but knowing that many other people are on the same path as me helps me move. On my journey I found on youtube a recipe for raw chili. I'm going to make it this week and I'm so excited. The poster of the movie was health renegade. They are great, fun and helpful. Some of their health recommendations are weird but being weird is essential to being a healthy human.

Zen Nanny

So I've been an American nanny in Germany for 8 days. Oh my goodness! I think every single man and woman should take some time to be a nanny. Now I know that I will never create my own offspring. There are some good things about taking care of kids but not good enough for me to become a mother permanently. The good part of this is that it's actually the most Zen thing I've ever done. I feel the only way I can be at my strongest is when I accept everything that happens. If I don't let things go it affects my whole day. Right now I'm in a strange land, have no friends, am with kids day and night and have only a simple room with a few belongings. I love that part. I have a room in the attic. It's like something out of "The Little Princess". Being okay with being a foreigner is a great Buddhist practice. When I try to speak to German's they always think I'm a weird American. Sure, people like being weird but only when friends think your weird and delightful. I'm at peace with it all, lol. I really am, it just seems like an jerk thing to say "I'm at peace with it all". But there is no other way I can be. When I got here I had jet lag and gluten shock (I have celiac disease and Canadian Airlines doesn't know what gluten free means!). I was miserable and I knew time was the only thing I could give myself. And I also know that my body heals quicker when it's not stressed.
So I'm not looking for anything in German. I pray for patients and good friendships (praying is a good mediation, not talking to an god) The one teaching that has been sticking in my head I heard a few days before I moved to Germany. The point is not self gratification. That phrase runs through my head and I feel like it helps me respect people far more than I ever had. From following this teaching I also feel a lot more free to enjoy the day, the moment or whatever. I try to embrace every experience as if it was the holiest experience one can get. So life is good, even though I do hope to find some kind German friends:)

Green Tea, please.

I love green tea and the Buddha. It kinda looks like a cool marketing image for tea. The raw copy of this is actually really gross. I used watered down acrylics because I didn't have watercolors. The texture is really rough and grainy. Thanks to scanning it looks good now. I made it the screen picture for my cell phone. I love the creepy pictures in the background top right hand side. Now, I can't recall why I did that.

This is just supposed to be cute. Kinda artsy but mostly adorable. It's a photo of me and my mother. I photocopied black and white. The canvas is actually a retro Reader's Digest collection of stories. I hollowed out the book and made a keep sake box. It was a fun craft and I'll definitely do it again.

Drunken MIshap

Like with many other people I have had created many regrets all because I was drunk. Instead of feeling bad about it I decided to make a scrap page to make fun of the fact that we all mess up when we're wasted. I found this image of a donkey and dame and thought 'this need a good headline'. The first headline I though of was "Drunken Mishap". But I was to lazy to find the word mishap. Now I regret it because it would of been way better then the one I choose. "The most drunken disaster" is good but a bit to severe. The expression on her face is perfect. And the fact that it's a pretty random image makes it funny.

Scrap

This is my attempt at scrap booking. I found this photo in an 1980's Times book. The man of the house was looking directly at the woman's bosom. It was a bad idea to wrinkle the paper because you can't tell as clearly were he is looking. Maybe this isn't scrap booking but more like decoupage.

Santa Dragon

When I was 17 a was Santa for a girl in my German class. She loved Japanese culture so I painted hair a vase with a dragon on it, then I put a stick of bamboo in it. She loved it. I saw her years later and she said she still had it. I drew the dragon on my leg too. Personally, I'm not interested in dragons but I liked that she liked it.