Author: Annie

Yes. I am THAT She Devil. The original, shedevil at vix.com. You know: I am: mom, attorney, fathers' rights advocate Actually, I'm a lawyer -and- I play one on tv. Yep..that's me.

The List of Conscious Cleanse Forbidden Foods

If you are doing the Conscious Cleanse, here the list of Conscious Cleanse forbidden foods (well, the beauty of the Conscious Cleanse is that nothing is actually forbidden, but this is the list of foods to avoid on the Conscious Cleanse).

If you are not familiar with the Conscious Cleanse, it is not like a ‘traditional’ cleanse, which has you fasting and drinking lemonade laced with maple syrup and cayenne pepper. The Conscious Cleanse is actually a way of eating – eliminating certain foods, and consciously combining other foods – to give your digestive and immune systems both a break, and a boost. The reviews of Conscious Cleanse have been nothing short of glowing, which is, in fact, a word that appears over and over in the reviews as people rave about their “glowing skin”.

Anyways, here is a handy list of foods to avoid while on the Conscious Cleanse. (Hint: Take a screen shot of the list with your mobile phone and carry it with you everwhere!)

List of Conscious Cleanse Forbidden Foods to Avoid

  • Corn
  • Soy
  • Wheat and any other Gluten
  • Peanuts
  • Dairy
  • Eggs
  • Sugar
  • Chocolate
  • Grapefruit
  • Oranges
  • Tomatoes
  • Potatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Chili Peppers
  • Squash
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Shellfish
  • Strawberries
  • Yeast
  • Caffeine
  • Alcohol

    • When is the Dunkin Donuts in Boulder Opening

    If you are wondering “when does the Dunkin Donuts in Boulder open?”, wonder no more. I have it straight from the horse’s mouth.

    The Dunkin’ Donuts, which is occupying the space where the Kentucky Fried Chicken used to be, next to Taco Bell, on 28th just north of Valmont, has a target opening date of Tuesday, March 4th (2014).

    Save the date!

    How the Government Knows if You Have Health Insurance

    How does the government know whether you have health insurance? A lot has been made of the government mandate, under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), or “ObamaCare”, that everybody has to have health insurance, or pay a penalty. This penalty is known as the “shared responsibility penalty”. But how do they know?

    I was very curious about this, and so I did some research.

    As it turns out, starting next year (2015) there will be a section on your Federal tax return in which you will have to confirm that you have health insurance, or pay the penalty if you don’t.

    In otherwords, it will be self-reported.

    But before you think “Well, I can just say that I do when I don’t,”, bear in mind that your Social Security Number (“SSN”) is tied not only to your tax return, but also to your health insurance – it’s one of the first things that insurers (and indeed, medical providers) ask for these days. So, while you might get away with it, you might not – and especially if you are audited.

    Moreover, employers are now required to report employer-provided health insurance on your W-2. Says the IRS:


    The value of the health care coverage will be reported in Box 12 of the Form W-2, with Code DD to identify the amount. There is no reporting on the Form W-3 of the total of these amounts for all the employer’s employees.

    In general, the amount reported should include both the portion paid by the employer and the portion paid by the employee. See the chart, below, and the questions and answers for more information.

    An employer is not required to issue a Form W-2 solely to report the value of the health care coverage for retirees or other employees or former employees to whom the employer would not otherwise provide a Form W-2.

    It’s not too far of a stretch to imagine that for any return that does not have a value in Box 12 of the W-2, those returns will be flagged for closer scrutiny, looking specifically at the section on health insurance.

    Puzzled by “ONDJFMAMJJASO” on Your Bill? Here’s What it Means

    If you have received a utility bill – such as an Excel Energy bill – or some other statement of account, and are puzzled by a graph which tells you your “ONDJFMAMJJASO” usage, don’t feel alone. And don’t feel foolish when we tell you what ONDJFMAMJJASO stands for. Depending on when you read it (and this is a clue), it could also instead say NDJFMAMJJASON, DJFMAMJJASOND, JFMAMJJASONDJ, FMAMJJASONDJF, MAMJJASONDJFM, AMJJASONDJFMA, MJJASONDJFMAM, JJASONDJFMAMJ, JASONDJFMAMJJ, ASONDJFMAMJJA, or SONDJFMAMJJAS.

    Yes, each of those letters stands for a month of the year, in order, and the group of letters together stands for your month-to-month usage or charges or whatever it’s revealing about your account.

    But often it isn’t clear! Take, for example, an Excel Energy statement. What it should say is something like “This is a month-by-month comparison for the past year.” Instead it says “Your monthly electricity usage.” It would not be unreasonable for you to think this means your usage for the month, and try to make ONDJFMAMJJASO somehow fit “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday….”, which of course it doesn’t.

    If you are reading this, it’s likely because you Googled (or Binged or Yahooed) that odd set of letters, which also means that it’s likely that the company that sent you the statement also did not make it clear just what it was you were looking at. Take heart in knowing that the vast majority of others who have read this article arrived at it the exact same way, for the exact same reason.

    Vegetarian and Vegan Hemorrhoid Treatment

    Conscientious vegetarians and vegans who are having problems with hemorrhoids have for years had nowhere to turn for hemorrhoid relief. Most if not all hemorrhoid ointments and hemorrhoid creams (in fact, generally all hemorrhoid products) contained, among other things, shark oil (technically shark liver oil). The best known hemorrhoid ointment, Preparation H, was infamous for its use of shark’s liver oil. Now, however, we are happy to report, there are several hemorrhoid treatments from Preparation H that not only do not contain shark oil, but are completely vegan, and all of them are vegetarian.

    I know this because this week I spoke with Emily, a customer service representative with the Preparation H brand (their parent company is Pfizer). Please note that I do not know about Pfizer’s animal testing policies, and so that is a separate question. What I know is about the ingredients in their hemorrhoid products.

    No Preparation H product sold within the United States contains shark liver oil

    As of the writing of this article (August 13, 2013) all of their products are vegetarian (meaning that they contain no ingredients for which an animal had to die), and in fact only two of their products contain any animal products at all – and those products are bees wax and lanolin.

    The following Preparation H products contain no animal ingredients:

    Preparation H Cooling Gel
    Preparation H Cream
    Preparation H Suppositories

    The following Preparation H products contain either lanolin or beeswax:

    Preparation H Ointment (beeswax)
    Preparation H Wipes (lanolin)

    There is also a homeopathic hemorrhoid cream out there, that is vegan, called Nelsons H Plus Care Hemorrhoid Cream. It is available from Amazon here.

    Searches that led to this article: https://www mangemerde com/vegetarian-and-vegan-hemorrhoid-treatment/,  

    How to Make a Gorgeous Work-of-Art Necklace Hanger

    I am still unpacking and organizing the house that I recently bought. Over the past week or so I’ve slowly been unpacking, going through, and organizing my jewelry. And while I have matching earring and necklace organizers, what I really needed was a way to organize my more delicate necklaces – you know the ones that always get tangled. Here is the solution with which I came up. It looks great hanging on my wall, and once you have the materials, it takes all of about 15 minutes to make.

    You will need:

    1 12 x 12 canvas artwork (they have tons of these at Target, and they’re cheap!)
    1 package 12 x 12 cork tiles (also available at Target)
    1 package of straight pins (also, you got it, available at Target)
    Scissors

    12 x 12 canvas artwork from Target
    canvas-artwork-necklace-hanger

     

    Now, take the cork tiles, and trim them to fit just inside the frame of the canvas. You want them to be a little bit wider than the inside of the wood frame, so that you can tuck the edges in between the canvas and the frame, so that the cork doesn’t fall out:

     

    cord-tile-scissors-necklace-hanger

     

    Next, insert the pins spaced an inch or so apart – I did two rows, staggered, to accommodate more necklaces.

     

    necklace-hanger-pushpins

    And that’s it!

    necklace-hanger

     

    necklace-hanger-multiple

    BinLadenLand to Become a Reality

    Ok, it isn’t really Bin Laden Land, but developers are building an amusement park in the very area where Osama Bin Laden was ultimately captured and killed. It kind of boggles the mind. The site, in Abbottabad, Pakistan, will be called Hazara Heritage Park, and is being developed by project director Sheikh Kaleemuddin.

    “It’s a beautiful area,” says Kaleemuddin. “You won’t get such a beautiful landscape around anywhere in the world where the water is there, the mountains are there, the trees are there, the natural wildlife is there.”

    And the memories – ah, the memories.

    But, says Kaleemuddin, “We should move forward from those incidents, we must move forward with our beautiful world, this global village, to improve the world… We should get away from what has happened in the past.”

    In addition to the amusement park, Hazara Heritage Park will feature as many as fifty attractions and amenities, including hotels, zoos, and a food court.

    Of course one can argue, and indeed it is being pointed out in the press, that the site means something quite different to residents than it does to those outside of Pakistan in general, and Abbottabad in particular.

    On the oter hand, consider that Kaleemuddin is going for the international tourist trade.

    “We’re going to attract the worldwide tourist over here,” says Kaleemuddin. “We want…the tourists from all around Europe, America. People should come and see what we are doing.”

    If You Want to Change the World… Love a Woman

    This poem, “If You Want to Change the World… Love a Woman”, is truly one of the most amazing, touching, incredible poems that I have read in a long time. The author (link to her website below) so accurately captures *so* much, it moved me to tears in some places, and caused me to shake my head in wonder in others. This is a poem to be treasured by women, and shared with all men.

    If You Want to Change the World… Love a Woman

    If you want to change the world… love a woman-really love her.
    Find the one who calls to your soul, who doesn’t make sense.
    Throw away your check list and put your ear to her heart and listen.
    Hear the names, the prayers, the songs of every living thing-
    every winged one, every furry and scaled one,
    every underground and underwater one, every green and flowering one,
    every not yet born and dying one…
    Hear their melancholy praises back to the One who gave them life.
    If you haven’t heard your own name yet, you haven’t listened long enough.
    If your eyes aren’t filled with tears, if you aren’t bowing at her feet,
    you haven’t ever grieved having almost lost her.

    If you want to change the world… love a woman-one woman
    beyond yourself, beyond desire and reason,
    beyond your male preferences for youth, beauty and variety
    and all your superficial concepts of freedom.
    We have given ourselves so many choices
    we have forgotten that true liberation
    comes from standing in the middle of the soul’s fire
    and burning through our resistance to Love.
    There is only one Goddess.
    Look into Her eyes and see-really see
    if she is the one to bring the axe to your head.
    If not, walk away. Right now.
    Don’t waste time “trying.”
    Know that your decision has nothing to do with her
    because ultimately it’s not with who,
    but when we choose to surrender.

    If you want to change the world… love a woman.
    Love her for life-beyond your fear of death,
    beyond your fear of being manipulated
    by the Mother inside your head.
    Don’t tell her you’re willing to die for her.
    Say you’re willing to LIVE with her,
    plant trees with her and watch them grow.
    Be her hero by telling her how beautiful she is in her vulnerable majesty,
    by helping her to remember every day that she IS Goddess
    through your adoration and devotion.

    If you want to change the world… love a woman
    in all her faces, through all her seasons
    and she will heal you of your schizophrenia-
    your double-mindedness and half-heartedness
    which keeps your Spirit and body separate-
    which keeps you alone and always looking outside your Self
    for something to make your life worth living.
    There will always be another woman.
    Soon the new shiny one will become the old dull one
    and you’ll grow restless again, trading in women like cars,
    trading in the Goddess for the latest object of your desire.
    Man doesn’t need any more choices.
    What man needs is Woman, the Way of the Feminine,
    of Patience and Compassion, non-seeking, non-doing,
    of breathing in one place and sinking deep intertwining roots
    strong enough to hold the Earth together
    while she shakes off the cement and steel from her skin.

    If you want to change the world… love a woman, just one woman .
    Love and protect her as if she is the last holy vessel.
    Love her through her fear of abandonment
    which she has been holding for all of humanity.
    No, the wound is not hers to heal alone.
    No, she is not weak in her codependence.

    If you want to change the world… love a woman
    all the way through
    until she believes you,
    until her instincts, her visions, her voice, her art, her passion,
    her wildness have returned to her-
    until she is a force of love more powerful
    than all the political media demons who seek to devalue and destroy her.

    If you want to change the world,
    lay down your causes, your guns and protest signs.
    Lay down your inner war, your righteous anger
    and love a woman…
    beyond all of your striving for greatness,
    beyond your tenacious quest for enlightenment.
    The holy grail stands before you
    if you would only take her in your arms
    and let go of searching for something beyond this intimacy.

    What if peace is a dream which can only be re-membered
    through the heart of Woman?
    What if a man’s love for Woman, the Way of the Feminine
    is the key to opening Her heart?

    If you want to change the world…love a woman
    to the depths of your shadow,
    to the highest reaches of your Being,
    back to the Garden where you first met her,
    to the gateway of the rainbow realm
    where you walk through together as Light as One,
    to the point of no return,
    to the ends and the beginning of a new Earth.

    — Lisa Citore, August 2008

    Postpartum Fear of Flying

    It’s like the unholy love child of Brooke Shields and Erica Jong: postpartum fear of flying. It turns out that while nobody talks about postpartum fear of flying, and while postpartum fear of flying does not even seem to be a recognized “diagnosis”, lots of people – mothers in particular, but also fathers, experience a new and sudden fear of flying once they become parents. It starts post partum, but it lasts for years.

    If you suffer or have suffered from postpartum fear of flying, read on, and share your story!

    For myself, I used to be a very frequent flyer. In fact, I was flying on my own from a very young age, and never had a problem with flying – at all.

    That all changed when I had my first child, at age 20 (planned, thank you very much!) Suddenly I was gripped by an icy cold fear around my heart at the very thought of getting on an airplane. In fact, the thought of flying filled me not just with dread, but with outright terror.

    Interestingly, at around the time that my daughter hit her mid teens, my fear of flying eased up, and I even willingly boarded planes again.

    It was then that I started to connect the dots, and theorized that perhaps the sudden onset of my fear of flying was related to the overwhelming responsibility of being responsible for the safety and well-being of my child. And that, as she reached an age where, sure, she might miss me if I perished, she would be ok without me.

    I really didn’t think a whole lot more about it until I had my son, several years later. Instantly that fear of flying returned. I would do – and have done – anything to avoid getting on an airplane. Fortunately I adore travelling by train, and so many trips between California and Colorado have been enjoyed on Amtrak’s California Zephyr.

    But now, as my son hits his mid-teens, and I have some travelling to do this year, I find myself actually contemplating flying again, and without being seized with terror. In fact, I’m contemplating not just a flight for a conference from state-to-state, but a 15-hour flight to another country.

    “Hmmm,” I thought to myself, “that’s interesting. This is the identical experience I had with my daughter.”

    I mentioned this to a friend of mine – a very hands-on single father, and it turns out that he too has had the same experience. No problem flying at all, until he became a parent, and then – boom – fear of flying.

    I’ve had other friends mention that they have experienced this as well.

    So, to all of you people out there who have experienced postpartum fear of flying – you are not alone. And it does get better.

    Lapsang Souchong and Weight Loss: A Miracle Weight Loss Tea?

    A few months ago I found the amazing Lapsang Souchong tea from Pekoe, in Boulder. Now, I love me some smokey tea, so I picked some up and brought it home, and it became my morning cuppa (well, 3 cuppas). Previously I had been drinking regular black tea. Well, since I started drinking the Lapsang Souchong regularly, I noticed I’d started losing weight. So much so, in fact, that I was starting to get concerned (not at the level – I’m now at my ideal weight, which I love!), but that there was no obvious explanation. Then a friend to whom I had given some of the Lapsang Souchong asked me, out of the blue, “Have you noticed losing weight since drinking the Lapsang Souchong?” She had the same experience – we had both lost weight even though not actively looking to lose weight!

    Wikipedia says, of Lapsang Souchong, that it originally comes from the Wuyi region of the Chinese province of Fujian. “Lapsang is distinct from all other types of tea because lapsang leaves are traditionally smoke-dried over pinewood fires, taking on a distinctive smoky flavour. Lapsang souchong is the first black tea in history, even earlier than the famous Keemun tea. After the lapsang souchong tea was used for producing black tea called Min Hong (meaning “Black tea produced in Fujian”), people started to move the tea bush to different places like Keemun, India and Ceylon. The name means “sub-variety”. Lapsang souchong is a member of the Bohea family of teas… The story goes that the tea was created during the Qing era when the passage of armies delayed the annual drying of the tea leaves in the Wuyi Mountain. Eager to satisfy demand, the tea producers sped up the drying process by having their workers dry the tea leaves over fires made from local pines.”

    Interestingly, in all the research I have done, I have been unable to find anything – even anecdotal – connecting Lapsang Souchong to spontaneous weight loss. So I asked on Facebook, and sure enough, another woman said she’d noticed the same thing when drinking Lapsang Souchong!

    Of course, this is only 3 data points, so, I ask you, my readers: have any of you had this experience? Please let us know!