I've Begun My Low Iodine Diet

Greetings all,

As the title states, I'm officially  not allowed to eat anything with more than 50 mcg per day (to give you an idea, in one teaspoon of iodized salt contains 400 mcg of iodine). It SUCKS. I'm now allowed to have ANYTHING dairy, so I can't even have my coffee because I like all the fixin's, haha. For new readers, BTW, I have to be on a low iodine diet for the next two and a half weeks because I'm going to be given radioactive iodine to kill the left side of my thyroid, which is being bad and taking over all the production. I have a lump on my neck that's 2cm x 2.5cm  because of it, and have hyperthyroidism, specifically, an autonomous thyroid. So, doc's plan is to kill the overactive side so the side that's currently not doing anything will take over and make me "normal."

For dinner last night, I made sesame chicken, lemon-seasoned (fresh) green beans, and homemade fries. I had to peel the potatoes for the fries, which I don't normally do because I like the skin, but they turned out pretty good anyway :-) The green beans were AWESOME. I'm making them again today. I just cooked them in a little bit of olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkled this garlic and herb (salt free) mixture and added some celery seed and let them cook on low for like 20 minutes until they were tender. AMAZING.

Anyway, hubby and I are grilling today. The temps are FINALLY not in the 100s today and we got a LITTLE rain. I would love some more, so if anyone has any rain to spare, send it over ;-)

I'm almost halfway through reading Alan Draven's "Fractured Time" for the review. I don't know if I'm going to be able to write a good enough review to give it justice. Alan Draven has real talent. Makes me feel small and loser-ish ;-) Haha.

Well, I'm feeling light-headed and icky again, so time to lie down. I've been doing that a lot lately. I can't wait for this to be over.

Take care, everyone!
Sara

Dancing with Dragonflies (very rough) Excerpt

I've been writing in my new book today. It's a young adult book (my first) that I have decided to call "Dancing with Dragonflies." That title has been in my head for about five years and last year, I finally thought up a decent plot to go with it. I'm really loving what I have so far. There are 12,000 words to this new book as of 6pm August 2nd, 2011.

I have decided to post a teeny tiny (and very rough) excerpt from my new book, to give you an idea about it. I hope it piques your curiosity and you will join me on this journey when it's ready for the public :-) I'm hoping to divide this into a trilogy of about 30-40k words per book, perhaps more, since it's YA.

Well, here you go:

Dancing with Dragonflies Excerpt

Copyright (c) 2010-2011 Sara Vance-Hogan

No part of the following may be used without the author's written permission. If you steal any of these ideas, Sara Vance-Hogan has the right to hunt you down and tickle-torture you before taking legal action ;-)

A long, long time ago, the world was in peril. The lands were dead or dying in most places, and destructive fires were born daily. It was said the planet was angry with man. For man had become greedy and bloodthirsty; all he seemed to do was lie, cheat, steal, and war with one another. The blood of the murdered soaked into the grass and almost killed the planet by poisoning it.

One day, a little girl was out looking for food with her family. It had been days since they had eaten. They searched among the dead grass and trees, but found nothing for a long time.

Finally, the little girl wandered off on her own and stumbled upon a single green plant with five pieces of ripe, orange fruit – just enough for her, her mother and father, and two sisters.

Somehow, the girl knew the fruit was like no other and would make her and her family’s bellies full with one just piece. It is said the little girl became overjoyed at the sight of the beautiful plant and cried before picking the fruit. She knelt beside the plant and said a small prayer:

“If everything could be as beautiful as this, I don’t think anyone would ever be sad or angry again. Please cover our planet with colors this bright and food this filling so we may be given another chance to flourish and keep this planet alive and beautiful.”

She picked the fruit and showed her family, and for that night, their bellies were full.

Hours after the family had left, something wondrous happened. The little girl’s tears that had fallen to the dirt gave life to something grand. In each spot where a tear had fallen, a creature was born: the first of the dragonflies.

The dragonflies quickly grew and flew all over the planet, gathering seeds and water and planting them everywhere. They used their power of life to make everything grow in only a matter of days. They worked and worked until the planet was beautiful and abundant once more. The four wisest of the dragonflies also made the Four Lands of Season where, no matter what the planet looked like elsewhere, the climate and life would always be certain, so that there would always be a chance of rebirth for the other parts of the planet; for here, there would always be life or unlife and the planet would never cease because there would always be creatures and plants.

Right before the four wise dragonflies died of old age, they gave a piece of their heart to each Land of Season, so that if ever the planet was in trouble again, the four pieces could be put together to give life once more, in any way the heart was needed.

It's Monday -- Boo

Even though I'm not employed, I still hate Mondays. Especially the Monday after a lazy weekend. I feel so sluggish and blah that all I want to do is lie on the couch and take care of this headache I have. Allergies. I hate them so. Even when it's 107 degrees outside and everything is practically dead BECAUSE it has BEEN over 100 degrees for God knows how long, my allergies are still bad and giving me a headache.

Of course, it could be the hyperthyroid making me feel crappy, who knows?

Other than complaining about how I feel and the weather, I have an update on the book I'm currently reading to (amateurishly) review: "Fractured Time" by Alan Draven.

I've only just finished chapter sixteen, but I can tell this is going to be one of the best books I've read in a long time. Alan sure does know how to write mystery, thriller, and horror. So far, he's used all the key elements for each genre. I'm very much enjoying it and already recommend it to those who like this type of book (mystery/thriller/horror with an "old style" feel to it), I just wish I could read more than a few chapters at a time, but I just can NOT read a PDF on my computer for very long I'm discovering. If only you could put a file like that on your iPhone. Maybe you can? If you can, and if any stumbling readers know how, please leave this brainless technophobe a comment.

I think I'm going to go lie down for a few minutes to try and make this headache go away. I'd like to read more of the aforementioned book, and then write some more for my own three books I'm working on, which means I have to feel well. They are:


-- Dancing with Dragonflies (a YA fantasy)
-- Unnamed Vampire Horror (with real horror, no vampire love interests, and no sparklepires)
-- Unnamed Vampire Romance (this one DOES have a vampire love interest (or two), but no "I love humans, so I don't eat them." It should be a blast)

So far, my favorite is Dancing with Dragonflies. But that's because I'm already 36 (8x11) pages into that one ;-)

Happy Monday, everyone.