Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

  • I teach yoga, Nia, and stretch online!

    ALL CLASSES ARE ON ZOOM AT 10:00 AM PDT

    Tuesday Gentle Yoga 

    Wednesday Nia

    Thursday Stretch

    Please see my website for details!

    I am also available for private Nia / yoga / Personal Training all virtual, of course!

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

  • My Bloggey Past

  • ******

    Chose a month above to visit archives, or click below to visit a page.

Posts Tagged ‘Diane Bacho’

Date Of Death

Posted by terrepruitt on March 31, 2021

I think I swore I would remember this year, but I think I forgot . . . or almost. Who really knows, right? I think about five or six days before I started feeling “off”. I have switched up my workout routine so I was thinking it was maybe that. I always look at what I have eaten. I thought maybe it was that. I have not been great about drinking (what I consider to be) enough water so I was thinking it could be that. Then two or three days later I just was feeling “icky” I kept looking at all of the aforementioned things but none of that seemed right as the reason for my “off” feelings. One thing that is so frustrating or baffling . . . depending on the moment of introspection . . . is that the feeling or sensation is so difficult to describe. It is a feeling of doom or dread or sadness or just screw-it-all that just does not make sense, combined with confusion and indecision and some giddiness and grumpiness pretty much all at once. And the physical sensation is an ache in the stomach . . . no, the back . . . no, right under the ribs . . . no, the heart . . . no, the spine . . . no, the . . . get what I am saying? And not always just an ache, but a stab or tingling or a dryness or a sweaty-ness. Basically it is just OFF. And, again, when everything is examined there isn’t really anything exact to point out to account for this . . . but . . AH HA!

Terre Pruitt, Nia Teacher, online exercise classes, www.HelpYouWell.com, www.TerrePruitt.com, Nia Technique, yoga, stretch, virtual exercise class, Zoom Classes, dance exercise

Communicated via writing and heavily medicated

So, my mom’s death certificate states 04/11/14, but that is not the date she picked. She picked March 31. She had a mangled esophagus, partly due to delayed diagnosed cancer and partly due to a medical error, but when she went into the hospital on March 22, 2014 she didn’t know that she would not be leaving and that when they placed a tube in her throat to allow her to breath she would have to pick the day they took it out telling her that is the day she would die. Well, she didn’t die die on March 31st, but she was gone then. They removed the tube and put her in a medical coma so that we could watch her die slowly for the next 10 days.

I have stated before the body knows trauma. I had posted about it in a complete different context, but I think death of a loved one is trauma and I think the body remembers it. And even though the death certificate states 04/11/14 because that is when her heart stopped she was actually gone from us when they put her to sleep and removed the tubes.

So, I think that I get a feeling of doom or dread or sadness or just screw-it-all that just does not make sense, combined with confusion and indecision and some giddiness and grumpiness pretty much all at once. And I physically sense an ache in my stomach . . . no, my back . . . no, right under my ribs . . . no, my heart . . . no, my spine, no . . . accompanied by a stab or tingling or a dryness or a moistness. I think you may get what I am saying. 

I also think sitting at home and not being able to be out and about and seeing friends and family might have exacerbated “things” this year.

I believe that many of you may feel the same way . . . and maybe many of you can’t put your finger on it. But now maybe we will remember. 

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia online, San Jose Virtual classes, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, Nia Technique, Yin Yoga, stretch classes, online exercise, Zoom classes, virtual yoga, City of San Jose online exercise, live classes via ZoomDance Exercise, Nia, Nia online, San Jose Virtual classes, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, Nia Technique, Yin Yoga, stretch classes, online exercise, Zoom classes, virtual yoga, City of San Jose online exercise, live classes via Zoom

 

 

Posted in Diane Bacho | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

Grief Buzz

Posted by terrepruitt on January 29, 2015

Sometimes I just can’t figure it out.  I do know that when my body is fighting off something (a cold, a virus, or the sickness that is going around) I get grumpy.  I don’t get sick, but I get grumpy and I don’t know why.  It is probably because I am feeling less than 100%, but not sick.  My hubby and I have not actually been sick since last January.  Where we got something from the family at the Holiday dinner and it took us down for days.  Me – for one and half to be exact.  I just went to bed.  My hubby took longer to get better because he didn’t just go to bed.  He — like most people have to work.  I was lucky enough that it hit me Thursday after my class and I didn’t have a class on Friday so I slept all day.  I remember it well because I have never just slept like that.  I remember I got up once to make dinner and eat, but then I was back in bed.  I wanted to get rid of it.  Sometimes there are things going on that I allow myself to stress out about.  Like when I am learning a new routine.  I’ve told you that before.  But usually after teaching it for the first time the sense of “nervousness” goes away.  Could be that I messed up bad yesterday and forgot to do something I told someone I would do.  Never have done that before.  Don’t want to do it again.  I do know that is really bothering me.  But it could also be that thing I am trying to not let bother me.  I don’t THINK it is bothering me . . . but I feel odd . . . so it COULD be bothering me.  So like I said, sometimes I just can’t figure it out.  Is my body working really hard to keep from getting sick?  Am I so mad at myself for being forgetful that I can’t forgive myself and have this icky feeling inside?  Or is it that THING I am not thinking about?  And in not thinking about it, I am thinking about it.  I do think that sometimes grief has this “buzz” about it.  It might not be there all big and hairy making you cry and wail, but it is there.  It makes you edgy.  Sometimes even a little jumpy.  And it is not so much that I am not thinking about it, it is more that I was going to try not to mention it.  But . . . . I think, trying not to mention it and trying to just let it be “not a big deal” is in fact making it a big deal.  Grrrr!  So . . . not to make a big deal out of it, but to see if putting it out there helps relieve this tightness (almost like heartburn) in my chest and throat I will no longer ignore the THING.  Today is my mom’s birthday.

She and I are twenty years apart.  She would have been 67.  I had hoped I would have her around until she was in her 80s, but that didn’t happen.

I had thought that my dad and niece and I would get together and do something for my mom’s birthday, but we decided not to.  I never know if my dad is just trying to be brave or if he really thinks he is ok.  I also had secured tickets to an event this weekend so that had me believing my dad and letting him be.  He had a lot of projects he is doing.  “Keeping busy” as he says.

So really, I wasn’t going to say anything, but like, I said, there is something . . . . I can’t figure it out.  So I was thinking NOT SAYING ANYTHING, might be it.  Because otherwise I am excited.  I have a new Nia class.  I mentioned in a recent post that I was going to filling in for someone.  Turns out the “filling in” is going to be a permanent situation.  Remembering, of course, that “permanent” is still a flexible term.  I have to make sure the number of attendees in the other classes don’t go down.  A thought I had had, was, having Nia three times a week, might keep people from coming to the other two classes.  But today we had a record breaker.  So, we will see.

There are also a few other good things going on.  Perhaps they are good, but causing some stress?  I don’t know.  Like I said, sometimes I just can’t figure it out.  All I can figure out is that there is SOMETHING and I don’t like it.  So I am doing things, trying this and trying that to see what works.

What do you think?  Do you agree with the idea that grief can just hang out and make you edgy?  Do you think sometimes it is like that annoying thing you can’t put your finger on?  Do you understand it is not always tears and big time sorrow?  Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo

Posted in Diane Bacho | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Lemon Cookies

Posted by terrepruitt on August 14, 2014

In regards to diet and food these days there is so much information out there it can be overwhelming.  There are so many schools of thought on what is healthy and what is not.  I follow the school of thought that the less man made chemicals IN the food it is healthier than one full of chemicals.  I also think that less processed foods tend to be healthier than heavily processed foods. Some of the processing – even when the original ingredient – is natural is just a wash of chemicals.  I say all of this because I know that some would argue that some of the recipes I have posted are not necessarily “healthy”.  A banana full of marshmallows and chocolate chips?  No, not something I would deem as healthy, but also not something I eat every day.  The following recipe is not anywhere in the realm of health and fitness . . . one could argue that it has to do with “wellness” if you are one that thinks comforting foods help with well-being.  But I am not trying to disguise this as anything but what it is.  It is a recipe that I used to make with my mom.  It is one she passed down to me.  It is one that when I used to bring the cookies places people would ask for the recipe.  I don’t make them that often any longer because I do not like to eat the ingredients that make up a boxed cake mix.  But I do make them every once in a while because they are easy and people enjoy them.  I made them last week in honor of my mom.  I took them to her Celebration of Life.  They were the best ones I have ever made in my life.

_________________________________________________

Lemon Cookies

One box of lemon cake mix
1 egg
3/4 cup oil

Preheat oven to 375° F.  Mix all together.  Drop dough onto a cookie sheet using a spoon.  Bake for 10 minutes.

_________________________________________________

So . . . . here are some tips.Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes

If you have any lemons, squeeze some juice into the dough.  And/or some zest.

DON’T USE ALL THE OIL.  Start out with 1/2 of a cup.  Stir.  If the mixture seems like it needs more, then keep adding until it is a wet dough.  The oil depends on the cake mix.  In the “old days” it was 3/4 cup oil.  But with the cake mixes that have “pudding in the mix” it seems like you can use less oil.

The more oil you use the cookies tend to come out flatter.  They will puff up but one knock of the pan and they deflate.  Or when they cool they deflate.

Placing them close together on the cookie sheet makes them bake “fluffier”.  Farther apart makes them flatter and “crispier”.

WATCH THEM.  Ovens vary and 10 minutes might be too long.  What tends to happen for me is the first few pans seem to take longer than the ones after that.  My oven temperature should not be getting HOTTER, but . . . I don’t know.

I know that these last ones I made were the best ever because I didn’t leave the kitchen.  Normally I put a pan in and I set the timer and I leave the kitchen.  And with the variations I usually bake at least one pan that has brown edges.  But this time I wanted them all to be “perfect” . . . “unbrowned” . . . . so I stayed and watched them like a hawk.  I turned the pan in the oven if I thought I saw one tiny tint of color.  They were the most perfect lemon cookies I have ever made.  I know my mom would have been proud.

I have also made these with a chocolate cake mix.  Very yummy.  I have also used a white cake mix and added chocolate chips.  I have also used a white cake mix and added mint chips (well, the mint pieces from Andes).  I think I made orange ones once.  I think I have made spiced ones.  I have never tried the funfetti cake mix because that came onto the market after I kind of stopped making these.  Most boxed cakes mixes have partially hydrogenated oil in them and I avoid that.  They USED to have High Fructose Corn Syrup in them, but I haven’t seen that on the occasion that I have bought cake mix.

A boxed cake mix is just a bunch of chemicals.  I know.  If I were to make a cake I would do it from scratch.  But the point of these cookies is that they are easy.  But, as I said, I don’t make them often.  They are a treat.

In this case they were in honor of my mom.

I believe that there ARE some boxed cake mixed out there that do not have partially hydrogenated oil in them if you are interested in avoiding that.  Otherwise these are really easy to make and people seem to love them.

If you try making another version besides lemon, let me know.  I am a bit curious about the funfetti . . . .

Have you ever made cookies out of cake mix?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Friends With Benefits

Posted by terrepruitt on June 12, 2014

Ahhhh . . . recently I have been feeling . . . I don’t know . . . if I had to label it, I would say “depleted”.  I think the time has come when I am starting to miss my mom.  Ya know at first, I was busy and the last couple of years she was too tired to talk much so we didn’t talk that much . . . it could be a couple of weeks between phone calls.  She had also had limits on us visiting her.  Since she was not someone I see or talk to everyday it just seemed like a long time “in between” conversations.  Now, two months later . . . it is starting to affect me.  And I realized I felt a little depleted.  I hadn’t talked to my mom or seen my friends in a bit so I figured I needed a visit with a friend.  It just so happened I lucked out this week.  One of my friends/students has been away for a month and yesterday she showed up at Nia.  She came to class and it happened that she didn’t have an appointment or another class to rush off to.  So we sat and visited.  Then as we were visiting another friend showed up . . . which was really out of the norm.  It was obvious to me that this was all meant to be.  So I was able to get a little refilled.  Ya know the kind of replenishing that you get from visit with friends?  Then today after my Nia class I met with a friend for a quick visit, but we hadn’t seen each other in so long it turned out longer than we had thought.  It was a good visit.  A replenishment.  I want to post some information about how good relationships help us in life.

I was going through some papers and I found a little blurb that was printed many years ago that said having a deep conversation with a good friend might reduce anxiety in woman.  The theory was because it increased levels of progesterone.  So I went looking for the information on the internet and what I found actually distracted me from my original search (NO!  That NEVER happens to ANYONE EVER!!!!!).  Well, first let me quote from the article I found online at Michigan News

“Why does dishing with a girlfriend do wonders for a woman’s mood?

A University of Michigan study has identified a likely reason: feeling emotionally close to a friend increases levels of the hormone progesterone, helping to boost well-being and reduce anxiety and stress.”

So while we might not have known the biological reason why having close friends is good or makes us feel good we have heard enough information that we know research has shown friendships add to our lives.  But what I found took it a little further reminded me of how not only do GOOD friendships help make you feel better and give you health benefits they have been show to improve your health when you are ill.

Again, looking at information from years ago . . . WebMD’s article “Good Friends Are Good for You” states:

“One such study, reported in the journal Cancer, followed 61 women with advanced ovarian cancer. Those with ample social support had much lower levels of a protein linked to more aggressive types of cancer. Lower levels of the protein, known as interleukin 6, or IL-6, also boosted the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Women with weak social support had levels of IL-6 that were 70% higher in general, and two-and-a-half times higher in the area around the tumor.”

Also according to the article women with breast cancer in a support group had less pain and that “strong social support helps people cope with stress.”  Well, I know, for a fact that this is true for me.  I don’t need a study to tell me that I am less stressed after a visit with a close friend.

The article mentions that having a lot of friends may even reduce your chances of getting a cold.  Well, I don’t believe that quantity of friends is what supplies the benefit, I think it is the quality.  If you are able to vent to your friends and receive support and hear their stories and give them support back . . . that is what supplies us with stress relief.  We are getting things off our chest and getting support in return.  We are connecting with real people that have real problems and getting a sense of not being the only one whose life it not TV perfect.  And I believe relieving stress and making that connection supports our immune system which in turn helps protect us from catching colds.

So, my advice . . . if you are feeling blue or overwhelmed or perhaps not really certain what you are feeling, a little out of sorts, visit with a friend.  See if that helps cheer you up.  Might not take away all of the blue, but perhaps it will help ground you a bit so that you can do the rest.

Do you know what I am talking about?  Have you ever felt that wonderful fullness after a visit with friends? Do you believe that a good social network can help support medical treatment?  What else have you got on your mind?

 

If this post sounds familiar . . . .you could have read Friends For Life, which is pretty similar.  🙂

 

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Beef A Top A Squash

Posted by terrepruitt on June 7, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaAnother quick post.  I often have a vague idea of what I am going to cook for dinner then I forget as the day goes on.  Either I am teaching Nia, learning a Nia routine, or at the moment going through my mom’s stuff.  So I find myself walking into the kitchen and not knowing what to cook.  Yesterday I was on the phone with my husband and it was already past starting-dinner-time and I didn’t even know what to make.  I had purchased some ground beef but had no plan as to what to do with it and I had forgotten about it.  When I looked in the fridge I saw it and the butternut squash I bought.  Ooo!  Stuffed squash.  Actually it is more like Topped Squash.  It is somewhat easy . . . except for making space in squash.  I was trying to do it in a manner that saved the squash innards for roasting (perhaps you will notice the cut up pieces of squash in the picture).  That was the difficult part.  Needing so much concentration I forgot to take pictures.  I emptied out the small portion where the seeds are (easy), but I wanted more room for meat (not so easy).  So I cooked then cut (I would not recommend that).  I would recommend just skipping that part and making room using a spoon before baking it.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga______________________

Beef Topped Butternut Squash

1 butternut squash
olive oil
1/4 of an onion, chopped
1 lb of beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
1 cup of shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 450° F.  Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise.  Remove the seeds and enough of the insides to make a “boat” in which to place the beef.  Coat both sides of each half in olive oil.  Salt both sides of each half.  Place each half face down on parchment paper on pan.  Bake for 15 minutes.

While the squash is roasting, heat the oil and onion.  Once the onion is translucent, add the beef.  Add the salt and garlic.  Cook the beef until it is almost completely cooked.  Add the pepper.

When the first 15 minutes are done, turn the squash over and bake for another 15 minutes, salting again, at this time, if that is your preference.  After the second 15 minutes of cooking . . . . check the squash.  If it seems cooked all the way through, salt it again and then fill each half with the beef and top with shredded cheese.  Bake until the cheese is melted.

This is very rich and very filling.

______________________

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga

 

I didn’t think about how much this was like the stuffed pumpkin I once cooked.  Although the stuffed pumpkin was much more “complicated”, as in it had more ingredients and a bit more complex flavors.  This was very good, I thought.  And since we usually eat ground turkey and not ground beef that much this was very rich.  I feel that beef is more “rich” than turkey.  It was very good.  And, had I not been trying to save the portion of squash that needs to come out to make room for the meat it would have been easy.  So if you are not interested in making nice chunks of squash to roast along side the halves this is an easy recipe.  And very yummy and rich.  Good dietary fiber!

Do you like stuff/topped squash?  What would you top yours with?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Still Dealing With Death

Posted by terrepruitt on April 19, 2014

Truth. This is not from Trainer Terre or Nia Teacher Terre, this is from The-Daughter-Who-Spent-All-Day-Cleaning-Out-Her-Mothers-Closets. Note: this is the second time I’ve type this as my laptop shut down on me. So now all I can say is that I was ok until we watched 47 Ronin which ends in everyone dying — even those in love – and it was more than I wanted to deal with after having gone through a couple of closets and drawers of my mother’s. It was obvious that my mom loved a bargin. Yet she was very fashion conscious. That she cared for her bargins was evident from how she washed her clothes on the delicate wash cycle and how so many of her things were hung up inside out. It was obvious how much she cared for the clothes no matter how much they cost. It was obvious – to me – that she thought she would be around a lot longer to enjoy said wardrobe.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaAs I went through each item, so obviously and lovingly cared for, I thought of how much she would have been happy to pass these clothes on to someone who would love them and get use out of them. But we all have our own feelings and ideas of wearing clothes from a dead person’s wardrobe. Many people I contacted were very hesitant. I don’t fault them that, as I said, we all have our own feelings and ideas.

But one person’s response brought tears to my eyes. I told her that I might have shoes for her (depending on her size) and that there were earrings that had her name on them. I asked her if she was she interested. She said, “I’d be honored.” After having seen how well my mom took care of her clothes and stuff. And after seeing all the cute shoes she had that I can’t wear because she had such a small foot. After experiencing that weird feeling of, “this person was keeping things for a life yet to be lived”. It was so wonderful to hear that someone would be grateful to receive stuff from her. It made me so happy to think that my mom’s stuff would be enjoyed. Those three simple words made me humbled to be related to such a woman that would speak them. Those words also made me determined to wear stuff from my mom’s closet and fashion jewerly stash to the family’s Easter celebration tomorrow. I pictured myself standing tall in one of my mom’s color coordinated top ensembles with the dangly fashion gold earrings sparkling as I swished my proud-to-be-my-mamas-daughter-head about! —All this from my cousin’s exclamation.

Thank you, Cousin for helping me though this. Thank you for helping me feel like my mom and the way she lovingly took care of the stuff that mattered to her matters to someone else too. It is very difficult to get rid of things that a loved one had and cared for. When such items can be passed on to someone that will get use of of them, it makes it seem less of a loss–to me.

How do you feel? So you think it is great to pass stuff on? Do you want to just throw stuff away? Do you pass it on to Goodwill? Do you keep it forever? What do you think?

 

Posted in Diane Bacho | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Memorial Page

Posted by terrepruitt on April 17, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Diane Bacho, Memorial page, Beautiful momA gathering for my mom is not going to be held until way later, at least four months from now. My father wants it to be after summer and I am not sure why, but at this time that is his present idea. We will see. Things are in flux right now. The “plans” we think we have get changed along with the ideas, so we will see. But regardless of exactly when we have it, it will be, as I said, months from now. I don’t know if it will be big or small . . . I imagine when something is held so many months after a death less people will attend . . . I don’t know. Anyway . . . . since I don’t know what will be happening, I thought I would put a page on my blog for her. I have had a few people share some stories or memories of my mom and they brought a smile to my face. It is nice to hear nice stories.

She was my mom, but as with anyone, you never know everything about them. Plus people have different perspectives so it is always nice to hear how a loved one touched someone’s life. So if you would like to share a story or a memory of my mom, that would be really nice. Share it as a comment on the Memorial Page “Diane Bacho – 1948 – April 11, 2014“. I will be moderating the comments, just because there are spammers and scammers. If you don’t have a blog you might be surprised to know some of the things that people comment. I am sure that just because this is about sharing memories of a deceased person that will not stop the spammy comments. So, once you type it, it will not show until I approve it. Again . . . I am requiring the comments be moderated just to keep the spam out, so please feel free to share whatever you like – just understand it won’t show up right away. IF for some reason you don’t want me to make your memory/story public that is ok too, but make sure that you type that in the comment and I won’t “approve it” for publication, I can just read it myself. Or share it with family accordingly. If you have already sent me a note, via FaceBook, or e-mail, would you do it again on the page? Please.

Also, I am thinking I will probably end up sharing a few of the stories (I am hoping there will be at least a few) at whatever type of gathering we end up having . . . whenever that will be. If you think of something after you share one comment, please feel free to comment again. The more the better. My father is not on Facebook and who knows if he ever will be. That requires him to sign up and blah, blah, blah, but my blog he can just look at. He does not have to sign up to see it, so if he chooses to check it out he will be able to read the stories and the memories. Not sure he will want to, but . . . it will be here for him if he does. So . . . please . . . share something.

Thank you.

And again, I want to thank you all for all of your support, it has been a God-send and has helped me more than you will ever know.

Share comments on the
Diane Bacho – 1948 to April 11, 2014 page.

 

Click here to go to the page or click on the page name above (Diane Bacho – 1948 to April 11, 2014)

Posted in Diane Bacho | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »