The Sweet Life of Sierra Sugar

Welcome to 2020!

Here I am wishing you a belated Happy New Year! When the ball dropped at midnight on the last night of December we not only celebrated the beginning of a new year, but a new decade. Will 2020 be another Roaring 20's? Time will only tell. Me personally I know I would love to dress as a flapper girl, pixie hair cut and all, for the next decade. How fun! [more below the picture...]


But as I was saying, we are not just in a new year, but a new decade. Let us all strive to make it a memorable one filled with love, acceptance, and understanding.

Let us all remember it is ok to agree to disagree.

Let us all believe that each of us wants the world to be a better place, we just disagree on how to get there, and that is ok. Uniformity and conformity are stifling and actually counter productive to a prosperous society.

Let us remember it takes all types to make the world go round, and just because someone is not your type, doesn't believe or think the way you do, makes more or less than you do, lives differently than you do, or any number of other differences doesn't make them good or bad... just different and that is ok too.

Let us strive to do away with hate. That opposing religious, social, or political beliefs are all ok.

Over all, let us all work together to make the 20's the best they can possibly be.

Red/Blue, Pink/Blue, Black/White, Rainbow, all/none... they are just labels that mean exactly squat without humanity, which is sadly grossly lacking in society today from ALL sides of any issue.

Be better. Be human. Be love.

Ok Boomer!
(orginally posted on one of my Facebook pages "The Rabbit Hole Chronicles")


The greatest generation to the baby boomers, to the forgotten Generation - Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z... Every generation has made contributions and done damage to society. Millennials have long be a target for frustration and ridicule, aren't all young people of every generation? Now the tables have turned with a backlash towards the Baby Boomers.

My contention is that no generation is all good, nor all bad. My parent's were Boomers, and they busted their behinds to take care of us kids, dad often working 3 jobs. So in case you're one of those wondering "Just what did the boomer generation do for us?" or Perhaps you're one who thinks boomers are the worst generation, here is a short list of just a few of the contributions Baby Boomers have given to the world. You might be surprised how much your activities of every day life were contributed by the generation you denigrate.

You may not agree with me, and that is fine. We are all entitled to our own opinions. But at least look over the historically provable facts of the contributions for this generation. Have comments? Agree? Disagree? All are welcome, just please keep them civil and void of insults to anyone.

Technological, Scientific, and Medical advancements by the Baby Boomer Generation:

-DNA Fingerprinting
-Apple II /personal computers-
-The internet/www
-The Universal Serial Bus port (USB) ...
-The Ethernet (see a trend here technology geeks?) -Boomers literally launched the technical revolution that allows you to denigrate them on a public platform.
-The Nanoscale Motor
-Lithium Ion Battery
-Artificial Heart
-Implantable insulin pump
-Portable Dialysis machines
-Infusion Pumps
-Text to speech technology
-Disposable cell phones - you know like the ones most of us use to get online.
-Automated defibrillators
-Space travel, and the thousands of every day practical uses R&D for space travel generated
-Vaccinations: agree or disagree with the practice of how it is today with an ungodly amount required, the fact is this invention has helped eradicate many deadly diseases saving untold number of lives.

...and so many more major medical, health, science, and technology contributions that you say they they don't want to learn, their generation is responsible for developing it! If only you'd take the time to LEARN HISTORY instead of insult it and call it "romanticism."

Social contributions? Yep they did those too.

Who do you think started the fight for women's rights? Gay rights? Integration? Civil rights and Social Equality? Even Contraception(the pill). Boomers!

-Women in Leadership: After battling hard for their own equality just decades earlier, the baby boomer generation saw large influx of women put into leadership positions in companies.

-Diversity and Inclusion: Integration in schools, companies, and other work and social structures.

-Personal Computers/Daily Technology (as previously mentioned): The use of personal computers that allows business run more efficiently and from multiple places was created by Boomers. That smart phone or tablet you're reading this on? Yep, Boomer contribution. PDAs started the evolution of items such as the "Palm Pilot," a forerunner to the modern smartphone.

-Rise of Entrepreneurship: Workers found more independence during this era. From starting your own business to contracting and freelance work, many more options became viable during this time.

-Personal Retirement Plans:
With the rise of self ran businesses and the concern over retirement, Boomers. started to take more personal responsibility for long term savings.

-The Internet: It changed the amount, and the way we receive our information. From e-mail and instant messaging, to surfing the web, the Internet changed how many companies do business. It is by far the biggest innovation in modern contextual history.

-Pay for Performance: Being paid for your contributions, regardless of your tenure, became the norm for organizational compensation plans.

-Work-Life Balance (yeah they planted the seeds for it.): The emergence of the notion of work-life balance, became a goal for even the most ambitious baby boomers.

These are just a few examples gleaned and copied from a cursory look. The information is out there... thanks to Boomers.

Are Baby Boomers perfect? The best? Better? No! They did their fair share of bad, like every generation before and after. Just different damage from that done by generations before and after, as those generations are different from each other. Different doesn't mean worse or better, just different. Every generation makes major contributions and does major detriment. Why vilify any single one over another?

sincerely,

The forgotten one - gen x

Keto Observations after 1 month:


Not every victory on a keto diet is determined by the falling numbers on a scale. We see a lot of posts about NSV, or non-scale victory, these keto observations are noticing fit better, or acquaintances comment on noticing a change in body shape. Here are a few of my recent NSV keto observations after 1 month of Keto.

1. I am sleeping better. As a life-long sufferer of chronic insomnia, restless leg syndrome, nightmares, and sleep apnea, I have noticed the last week or two that I am sleeping better most nights. While I am still a night owl, I am actually ready for bed earlier in the evening, think 1-2am as opposed to 4 or 5am. I am sleeping better and not napping during the day.

2. I am noticing more focus. Again, not needing a nap during the middle of the day, not stressing over phone calls and business, which regularly triggered panic attacks.. And the biggest thing for me is wanting to, and actually enjoying reading again instead of being a TV couch potato. I used to read voraciously, 2-3 books a weeks, scientific publications, news articles, you name it. The past several I haven't wanted to read at all, and spent most of my downtime binge watching TV or movies. Reading, while still a sedentary activity is much better for brain activity and creative inspiration, something as a writer I have been sorely lacking.


3. While I never was a big eater most of the time, excluding the monthly hormone-induced binge fest, I find I am actually eating less on Keto and feeling fuller longer. I have no intent to actually do Intermittent Fasting (which is often recommended to go hand in hand with a ketogenic diet) for a while, but after dinner (usually around 7pm) I find I am not hungry again until at least noon the next day. I don't do late night snacking of cereal, sandwiches, sweets, or chips anymore. The few times I need a late night snack, one serving, or even a half serving, of a keto fat bomb is all I need.

And can we talk about fat bombs for a minute?

I don't know what the science behind it is, or if it is coincidental, but between the higher healthy fat diet and the occasional fat bombs I am having significantly less issues with my restless leg during the day and at night. Even if I get up in the middle of the night to get a drink or go to the bathroom, I almost immediately fall right back to sleep. I literally cannot remember ever being able to do that in my whole life unless I was deathly ill.


4. My skin! I have had bumps on my upper arms and thighs most of my life since, well at least since puberty. Super dry flakey skin, even on my stomach. The bumps on my arms and legs are gone, completely gone. The skin on my stomach/abdomen is smooth and not covered in "dandruff" type skin flakiness. Even my hair that has stubbornly refused to grow past my shoulders for the last 20 years is now touching my bra strap in the back.

5. My blood sugar. I have been hypoglycemic and insulin resistant most of my life. The triggering event for starting Keto was my numbers flipping from low to high, signifying the potential start of diabetes. YIKES! Since starting Keto my highest numbers after eating have been no higher than 110, which is totally within the normal range.


I've only lost about 13lbs in a month, and I know most of that was probably water. I don't see any difference in the mirror yet, and only slight difference in how clothes fit. But the above NSV's are more than noteworthy as a testament to the wide benefits of a Keto lifestyle. It truly is not all about weight loss.

So for all you newbies to Keto who have been on it a month or two like me, or maybe you're just starting and feeling discouraged, don't! Stop stressing over the scale and see what other improvements are happening because of this WoE. Don't give up!

What Keto observations besides scale numbers have you had since starting your keto journey? I would love to see your stories in the comments below.

~sierra sugar

     Have any of you ever seen the movie "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit"? I love both the Sister Act movies, not just for their musical entertainment, but for the inspiration they instill. A quote from the movie has been a big inspiration for me in pursuing my dream of being a writer. Here is the scene from the movie:

Whoopi: I know you want to sing. See. I love to sing. Nothing makes me happier. I either wanted to be a singer or the head of the Ice Capades. Hey. Do you know who the Ice Capades are? Don't roll your eyes. They were very cool. 

I went to my mother who gave me this book...called "Letters To A Young Poet". Rainer Maria Rilke. He's a fabulous writer. A fellow used to write to him and say: "I want to be a writer. Please read my stuff." 

And Rilke says to this guy: "Don't ask me about being a writer. lf when you wake up in the morning you can think of nothing but writing...then you're a writer." 

I'm gonna say the same thing to you. If you wake up in the mornin' and you can't think of anything but singin' first...then you're supposed to be a singer.

A late summer moon rises in the night.
Full and round with its soft amber light.
Watching quietly.
Traveling patiently,
Keeping vigile from it's path across the sky.

A late summer moon rises in the night.
Mostly ignored for the glare of city lights.
Busy people.
Hurried people.
Too distracted in their chaos to notice the sky.

A late summer moon rises in the night.
Guiding the Trucker by it gentle glowing light.
Helping Truckers.
Friend to Truckers.
All the world slumbers, yet the Trucker and his moon travel the roads til morning light.

~Sierra Sugar (c) 09/01/2015

Now that we've all had a chance to finally sleep since the weekend, let me tell you a little bit about my first experience with the Great American Truck Show.  Yes my first. Even though my involvement was fairly high, though not as much as others, like Tom Kyrk... Tom are you even alive out there?  For my first time around with this truck show there was a lot going on.