Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Yin And Yang In Himalayan Salt

Posted by terrepruitt on January 6, 2017

According to Ancient History Encyclopedia,

“Yin is feminine, black, dark, north, water (transformation), passive, moon (weakness and the goddess Changxi), earth, cold, old, even numbers, valleys, poor, soft, and provides spirit to all things.

Yang is masculine, white, light, south, fire (creativity), active, sun (strength and the god Xihe), heaven, warm, young, odd numbers, mountains, rich, hard, and provides form to all things.”

These are awesome because, well, Yin and Yang AND they are Himalayan Salt Candle Holders.  Sometimes our cats sleep in the shape of the Yin and Yang.  It is a cool gift.  Very thoughtful.  Thank you, Hubby!  Also makes a good 13th Friday Photo, I think.  What do you think?

 

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Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Happy New Year – 2017

Posted by terrepruitt on January 2, 2017

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitSo, Happy New Year, huh?  Yeah!  Let’s just make it a good year.  There is always going to be stuff going on that we can focus on to make it a “bad” year, but let’s not focus on that.  Let’s just decide it is going to be a good year and make it be a good year.  Well, again, I have that whole “thing” with years and days and the like being “bad” or “good”.  They actually just are.  It is the moments IN the year/day.  The moments that make up the year that one might label “bad” or “good”, but to label the entire length of time bad or good, is just not something I do.  So . . . let’s make a lot of fun, exciting, smile-worthy moments in 2017!

We shall have so many smile-worthy moments that when something happens that makes us sad or upset we will be able to face it better.  We can make it through and not have it turn us into permanent mush.  I mean sometimes things will happen in life where you might need to take some time to be “mush” – not doing anything, and just process the situation.  But I don’t think it is good to stay mush.  There are too many good things in life to just be a pile of mush.  So, if there are a lot of experiences that have created smiles AND things to come that will create smiles it is easier to get through the mush times.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitMy hubby and I read all the things in our Goodie Jar last night.  It was fun to be reminded of some of the smile-worthy moments.  I did forget about a lot of them, so it was wonderful to be reminded.

I’ve had a week off from my Nia, yoga, and stretch classes and I am ready to get back to them.  We are going to be moving and grooving into 2017.  We had a nice rain to help us get a clean start in the new year.  It is looking good!

 

I hope you had a nice Holiday Season.

 

I am wishing you a very

Happy, Healthy, and

WONDERFUL 2017!

 

Make it so!

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

Kitty On The Tree

Posted by terrepruitt on December 30, 2016

I know, I have done ornaments for the last two weeks, but I really love Christmas and all the decorations and my ornaments!  Hardly anyone sees all our great ornaments so I am taking advantage of my blog and posting Christmas Tree ornaments!  This will be the last one, at least that is the plan.  Who knows, I might take a picture I love as I am “undecorating” and want to post it.  I will try to refrain.  But this is a NEW ornament.  I received it as a gift and it is just so cute.  She is BIG, but light, so it will be easy to find a spot for her on the tree every year.  YAY!  Love my new addition. So this is my last Friday Photo of 2016.  I will be keeping this “feature” in 2017.  This is also my LAST post of 2016.

Thank you for reading and liking.  Thank you even more for commenting.  I love interacting with readers.  I wish all of you a happy and fun New Year’s Eve.  And I wish all of you a GREAT 2017!

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Happy New Year!

Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

Last Few Days Of The Goodie Jar

Posted by terrepruitt on December 28, 2016

So we are in the last few days of the year.  2016.  I am seeing so many posts on Facebook about what a terrible year this has been and the majority of those posts have been associated with the fact that a celebrity has died.  Yes, I, too, feel sorrow when someone has died even when it is someone as distant from me as a celebrity.  I certainly feel loss and sorrow when someone close to me, like my father, has died.  It was so unexpected I am still, as times, unbelieving of the fact.  But I don’t condemn the whole year.  There has been a lot of things that have happened in 2016 that have been sad or could be considered “bad”.  But there are a lot of things that have transpired or a lot of things that I experienced that were good things.  Things I wrote down so that the big sad/bad things are not allowed to take over.  So, I am not ending the year saying 2016 was a bad year and I am glad to see it go.

When “bad” things happen, I don’t condemn the whole time in which they happened.  I wrote about something like that in my post I Had One Of THOSE Days.  I don’t think the day is bad when things go “wrong”.  I don’t think the whole year is bad because many of the celebrities from my childhood have died.  I don’t think 2016 is a bad year because my dad died.  It is just a year.  Things happened.  Good things.  Bad things.  Whatever the label.  The things that happened are just moments in time.  There are so many things that transpire.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitWe are still doing our Goodie Jar or Good Things Jar.  This is our fourth year.  We have been writing down the things that make us smile or we have saved a ticket to a show or game, then we put it in a jar.  Right now it is not actually a jar but a Christmas dish.  We have a few more days left to add things to it.  Traditionally, we have read it on New Year’s Eve, but this year we might actually do it on New Year’s Day – depending upon the timing of things, we will have to see.  But the same principle applies.  We are going to read through the notes, printouts, tickets stubs, whatever we used to remind us of all the good things that happened throughout the year.  To be reminded of all the things that made us smile.  Then we will be smiling again.  So it is like a double smile.  All of these things are what makes life good.  All of these things, all of these smiles are what makes us able – make us strong enough – to deal with the “bad” things.

That doesn’t mean we can’t cry or lie around and mope for a few days . . . but it does mean that we can’t ignore or belittle all of the great things that happen in our lives.  This just helps keep us anchored and steady.  The Good Thing Jar is needed sometimes.

In the past our jar has been filled with notes about my Nia students, my yoga students, our cats, our niece, our jobs, our friends, the weather, our house, our food, all the things we are blessed with, all the things that make us smile.  Oh!  I can’t wait.

So what about you?  Do you have any good things that you can reflect upon that happened in 2016?

Posted in Good Things in the Goodie Jar, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Hanging Among The Stars

Posted by terrepruitt on December 23, 2016

I have a large assortment of ornaments.  I love them all.  I am not one to have a theme for the Christmas tree or only hang certain ornaments on the tree.  I love all types of ornaments.  My hubby is not really all that fond of Christmas, but he does have some ornaments that he loves.  He loves his superhero ornaments and his Star Trek ornaments.  I thought it was funny that this one (which one is it, Honey?) ended up among the stars.

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Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Clearing The Negative Ions With Salt

Posted by terrepruitt on December 21, 2016

In August I went to the beach when I came back and wrote a post about negative ions and how the beach is one place you can get them.  You can also get them in the mountains, from waterfalls, and even from the shower.  Another place you can get them is a Himalayan Salt Lamp.  I have wanted one for a long time but whenever I have seen them they are really expensive.  Well, lucky me, I got one for Christmas.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitHow I got it early might be explained here or my friends and I have been having a Christmas gathering since we were eighteen.  For thirty years we have met and celebrated Christmas.  Sometimes it is before Christmas, sometimes it is after.  We just have always made sure that we did it.  It used to be four of us, but life’s circumstances took one of our friends away to another state.  For the past five years or so it has just been three of us.  But we still meet.

We gather, eat, drink, and exchange gifts.  The point of the gather is NOT the gifts, but we always manage to do pretty good with that.  The point is to visit and be together, but still we have always managed to exchange something.

This year we were able to fit it into our schedules before Christmas.  And a salt lamp was one of the gifts.  My house is full of Christmas decorations so I was going to wait to put the lamp out, but I ended up not waiting.  When I plugged it in and went to turn it on I was so excited to see it has a dimmer switch – super cool.

In order to write this post I did a search about the lamps and I came across an interesting site that has a lot of information.  It gives 10 reasons why you want one (Salt Lamps Cleanse & Deodorize the Air, Reduce Allergy & Asthma Symptoms, Eases Coughing, Increase Energy Levels and more).  It also gives advice on what size you might want for the room you are putting it in.  I think I might need a bigger one to be effective in the room I have it in now.  Or perhaps I can get two for the space.  It says that an average size room (which is what?) would benefit from a 6.9 lb lamp, but a 15 lb lamp would be better for larger areas like a living room.

Our house was designed with a great room so the area is very large plus there are cathedral ceilings.  The 15 lb one would probably work better in the living room.  It could be that two large ones would work best in that space.  It is very large.  I will take my gift one for my office.  Once Christmas is down I will be moving the lamp closer to where we sit and that might help in the mean time.  Until I find one (or two) I want to buy for the space.

My hubby has a tea light holder and I use that every once in a while. I am very excited about the lamp.  I wonder if we will notice a difference?

Do you have any Himalayan salt around?  Lamps?  Candle holders? 

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

To Open Or To Wait? That Is The Question

Posted by terrepruitt on December 19, 2016

So do you wait or open?  A friend and I were talking last week, she was saying that she was making some gifts and she was going to try to get them in the mail but wasn’t sure when that would be.  She didn’t think she would make it in time for them to arrive at my house so that I could take them with me to the gathering that was planned with the recipients of said gifts.  I suggested she send them to me anyway because that would give me and the other recipients motivation to meet again.  Then I started laughing because I said if she sent them to me I would open mine right away.  And she said, “You should!”  Then we started talking about the practice of waiting to open or opening right away.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitUnless someone tells me specifically not to open a gift until the actual occasion, I am going to open it.  If it comes in the mail or they give it to me in person, I am going to open it.  I am not one to wait or to expect others to wait.  I think it is perfectly fine to open it right away.  I get too excited to wait!

I know that some people like to wait.  They think that if you receive a Christmas gift in the mail you should wait until Christmas to open it.  I am not saying that waiting is wrong or that opening the present right away is wrong.  I think it is between you and then giver. I think that whatever you want to do or however you feel – is right.

Because I like to open my gifts right away, I loved her response.  She said, “You should!  You should open it right away!  Why wait?”  And the enthusiasm with which she said it just made me laugh.  I loved that!

I might have mentioned it in a post before – and this might even be “too early” for a lot of you – but one year my husband and I were in Fry’s Electronics and he saw something he wanted for Christmas.  Perfect.  To me, if someone can tell me what they want and I can get it — I love it.  So I bought it.  And we decided not to wait until Christmas to use it.  Well, it happened to be October.  So, yeah, that might be a little early, but it was awesome.  It didn’t just sit in a box in the closet.  We used it.  We got three months use out of it before the occasion.  It was a CD/DVD Jukebox.  It is a CD/DVD player but it holds something like 300 hundred discs.  We used it and we still use it!

So what do you think?  Are you a waiter?  Or an opener?  Do you like people to wait?  Or do you want them to open it right away?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

I LOVE Christmas Tree Ornaments!

Posted by terrepruitt on December 16, 2016

So, you might have noticed that I love Christmas.  I love the decorations.  I love the lights.  I love all the sparkle and shine.  It is a lot of extra work and there are a lot of “extra” things to do.  But I still love it.  This year we got a really big tree.  I thought I would be able to put all of our ornaments on it.  But sometimes REAL trees don’t want to support all of the ornaments we have.  Plus I had a lot of “extra” stuff to think about this year, so I actually did not put all of the ornaments on the tree.  There are still A LOT of ornaments on the tree, just not all of them.

You might have seen one of my posts about going to the ocean.  Well, on at least one of those trips we bought two new (oh, there might have been more) Christmas Tree ornaments.  They are so great.  They are sparkly, just like I like ’em.

What do YOU think?

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Need A Service? Try 211

Posted by terrepruitt on December 14, 2016

About two years ago I wrote about a phone number, 311, that you can call when you have a non-emergency police issue.  Well, actually it is a number for non-emergency municipal services.  I thought it was a state-wide number, but I found out when my dad died that it is not.  When I dialed it, it did not connect.  The deputies in his area didn’t know what it was, so clearly they do not have 311 in that area.  In California it is available in the following cities:

Anaheim, California / Berkeley, California / Los Angeles, California / Oakland, California / Riverside, California / Sacramento, California / San Francisco, California / San Jose, California

Well, last week I was working on a computer at the community center where I teach Nia and stretch and a woman asked if they had a list of people who give home assistance.  I stopped to listen because I was interested in finding such a list, too.  But then the person behind the desk said, “No, but you can call 211.”  All of us in earshot stopped to hear more.  Apparently 211 is an informational resource.  You can call 211 to get information about things.

211 is NOT a city service, it is an informational service run by the United Way.  It seems that this number is available to “people across North America.”  According to the website they can supply you with “non-emergency community, health and disaster information.”  The website says the people who can help are trained to answer questions about variety of services.  The site claims that it is confidential.  The site boasts that the service is available 24 hours a day seven days a week and in over 170 languages!

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitSo it sounds like they can give you ideas and information on who to call when you need various services.  The drop down list of services on their website lists:

Crisis + Emergency, Disaster Assistance, Food, Health, Housing + utilities, Human Trafficking, Jobs + Support, Reentry, and Veterans.  That is a broad list.  I am thinking it covers just about everything.

The service providers are not vetted nor do they go through any type of screening process.  There is an inclusion policy.  So in order for organizations to be included they have to meet all of the criteria in the policy.  But the website does have a disclosure stating that the United Way assumes no liability for the information on the website or services provided by the providers on the website.

So it is somewhat just a directory.  But still it is nice to have this information available.  It could be that they are a better more succinct version of Google.  Perhaps the chances of getting distracted are less.  One call can be made an a list provided as opposed to being able to get distracted with all the other stuff on the internet.

Just like 211, I make no claims and assume no liability if you do end up using the site or calling.  I just like to share information when I learn it.  It could end up being useful, it could not.  Either way, I still think it is interesting.

Did you know about 211? 

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Roast Pumpkin Soup, My Way

Posted by terrepruitt on December 12, 2016

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitOh, it has been too long since I posted on Monday.  Just so much to think about right now it is difficult to focus on what to write for a blog post.  I was busy with another project today so I was barely thinking about dinner much less a blog post.  I had a sugar pie pumpkin that needed to be used.  Normally with sugar pie pumpkins I make Pumpkin For Dinner but I didn’t feel like making that.  I don’t know why.  I LOVE that.  But I just didn’t want to make it.  So I thought I would make pumpkin soup.  I have never make pumpkin soup before.  I was certain there was a recipe online I could use.  But when it came time to make dinner I didn’t feel like looking at a bunch of recipes to figure out which one to make.  Or which ones I could use to make soup so I just made up something.  For me . . . it was too bitter, but my husband loved it.

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Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitPumpkin Soup

1 sugar pie pumpkin
olive oil
garlic salt
1/2 large onion
32 ounces veggie broth
1 pumpkin beer
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
sprinkle of pepper
sprinkle of nutmeg
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of water

Preheat the oven to 450° F.  Wash the pumpkin, then cut it up in quarters.  Removing all the seeds.  Rub the pumpkin with olive oil and sprinkle both sides of each quarter with garlic salt.  Then place the pumpkin – outside up – on a parchment paper lined baking pan.  Then bake it for 30 minutes.  Take the pumpkin out of the oven and turn each piece over, bake it for about 20 minutes more.  This is where you have to decide if it is done in 20 minutes or needs more time in the oven.  Use a fork, if needed, mine was kinda brown.  It might have been more than 20 minutes.

While the pumpkin is roasting.  Heat up some olive oil in your stock pot or soup pan.  Chop the onion.  Then cook the onion.  Then add the broth.  Then add the beer.  Add the salt and all of the spices.  Just let it barely boil.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitWhen the pumpkin is done roasting put it in your super blender (or perhaps you have an immersion blender*) and blend it until you have a pumpkin puree.

Add the pumpkin puree to the liquid in the soup pot.  Stir until incorporated.  Then serve.

*with the immersion blender add the pumpkin to the liquid then blend until smooth

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Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitSo, I didn’t have anything to serve this with.  I think I would have put some creme fraiche on top or some cheese.  But I wasn’t sure.  Strangely I didn’t taste it before I served it.  As I said, I have a lot of things on my mind and I was doing three other things while I was cooking, so dinner was super late in the evening, and when I first tried to taste it, it was too hot.  I didn’t try again.  But it was ok.

My husband really liked it.  He said it had a finish that tasted like Taco Bell’s Hot Sauce.  Can’t say I am happy about that exactly, but then again, it allowed him to like the soup, so ok.  But to me, it was too bitter.

So, help me out.  Why was it bitter?  Is cardamom bitter?  Is cumin?  Would cutting back on either of those help with the bitter?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

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