Chalica - Day 7

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We have hit over 6,000 views!! If you want to be reminded of Chalica next  year or share your story with others we now have group on Yahoo!

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Today I am having a hard time respecting the cold winter here in Iowa.  This year because of my health issues I did not get the motivation to get the Holiday lights up outside our house. I did get Wes, Bethany and Leigh to bring them up to the living room after Thanksgiving and while I did get to fixing many we didn’t get them outside until today. We waited for the temperature to get up to a balmy 31 F (-0.55 C)  Of course the ground is frozen, so Leigh took a large, long nail to pound holes into the ground for our first “Flamingo deer” pulling Santa. I’ll have to work on some harnesses for next year, but in the dark it should look okay!  But just putting that up has zapped my enthusiasm for more.  Believe when I say I usually do too much, but I so enjoy putting up the lights in this dark winter.  I think after my break here we will put up the igloo and then maybe call it quits for outside this year. Remember tonight is also the Worldwide Candle Lighting for Children that have died. (see below for more info)

On the positive side my dear friend Sophia has been busy working on some new chalice designs. In addition to Chalice Palace she now has a shop at Zazzle called Sophia Rose Fine Art. She has given me permission to show you a few of her copyrighted items. There are just so many and so little space here that I had to pick just a few. Of course the first one is her new Chalica design!

This is the bumper sticker, it also comes on t-shirts,
mugs,ties, cards, aprons, bags, postcards and even a mouse pad.

Chalice Art

 Madona Art

Some of the designs also come as stamps, on tree ornaments, iPhone skins, pendants, and jewelry boxes. And below for all my friends is a $10 off coupon at Zazzle!

Once a year candles are lit around the world at 7pm for the children that have died. The hope is that the light will go around the world one candle at a time. It is always the 2nd Sunday in December. This is the 2nd year for my family to celebrate the life of our blessed Tyler Joel Rudy that was taken too soon from us last October. His mom, my sister Karen opens her home on this day starting at 6:30 pm for his friends and family.  We all miss you Tyler. 

Love to you all,

Happy Chalica

Kathy

Hyperparathyroid

I have what is called hyperparathyroid. It has nothing to do with the thyroid other than the parathyroids are 4 glands located behind the thyroid. Hyperparathyroid means I have at a tumor on at least one of my parathyroid glands. This tumor is almost alway benign. The usual serum PTH levels for parathyroids is 10-65* so if it is above 65 you might have hyperthyroidism. Mine is 252. (see chart below)

One of the website that I found says this: "When patients have PTH levels above 200 it is because their tumor is very old (usually this means over 10-12 years old) and the tumor is composed of MANY cells. If your PTH level is over 200, then some doctor somewhere was asleep at the wheel. This should not be allowed to happen, and the amount of destruction to your body is generally worse." * Wow do I know this! 

Symptoms of Parathyroid Disease (Hyperparathyroidism)

	Loss of energy. Don't feel like doing much. Tired all the time. Chronic fatigue.
	Just don't feel well; don't quite feel normal. Hard to explain but just feel kind of bad.
	Feel old. Don't have the interest in things that you used to.
	Can't concentrate, or can't keep your concentration like in the past.
	Depression.
	Osteoporosis and Osteopenia.
	Bones hurt; typically it's bones in the legs and arms but can be most bones.
	Don't sleep like you used to. Wake up in middle of night. Trouble getting to sleep.
	Tired during the day and frequently feel like you want a nap.
	Spouse claims you are more irritable and harder to get along with (cranky, bitchy).
	Forget simple things that you used to remember very easily (worsening memory).
	Gastric acid reflux; heartburn; GERD.
	Decrease in sex drive.
	Thinning hair (predominately in middle aged females on the front part of the scalp).
	Kidney Stones.
	High Blood Pressure (sometimes mild, sometimes quite severe; up and down a lot).
	Recurrent Headaches (usually patients under the age of 40).
	Heart Palpitations (arrhythmias). Typically atrial arrhythmias.

Most people with hyperparathyroidism will have 4 - 6 of these symptoms. Some will have lots of them. A few people will say they don't have any... but after an operation they will often say otherwise. 95% of people with hyperparathyroidism will have 3 or more of these symptoms. In general, the longer you have hyperparathyroidism, the more symptoms you will develop.
Click here for a cartoon of the symptoms. While this is a funny cartoon remember hyperparathyroidism is not a joke is it serious and causes life changes. 
Take care. 

* Hyperparathyroidism: Disease of the Parathyroid Glands.

Friday Thougths

Sophia Rose from Chalice Palace >

I am just amazed at all the interest that is happening for Chalica this year. This is Wonderful! as of right now we have had over 2000 hits on this website since November 17! 

So have you started to think about how you are going to celebrate Chalica this year? Will you do it as a family or as a group of friends or as an individual? Will you create the event for yourself with some of our helpful ideas on the site?

Follow a planned event see: Just Do It! or Lisa's daily ideas or Jeff's written document. Or will you turn on Jeff's videos and let him lead you through a short service? Have you checked out Sharon Barlow Palm's Seven Principles Resources on Netflix? She had listed movies for each principle.
Have you decided on a chalice? Will you have just one or one for each person?
Please let me know what you plan - there are two places you can do this. Under this post is a place for comments and there is also a place in the guestbook or you can email me at klinkzeitz@hotmail.com.

Happy Chalica!

Gifts and other things

Sophia Rose from Chalice Palace >

I have to write about Chalice Palace and Sophia the owner. I contacted Sophia to ask permission to use the clipart to the right. I had found it quite by accident and thought is was just a perfect fit for my blog about Chalica. Sophia graciously gave me permission and asked some questions about Chalica and then we both put links to each others sites on our sites.  I really like the idea of a Chalice cookie cutter and so I ordered a set from Chalice Palace's website. Well it came yesterday and with it a Chalica gift from Sophia. So thank you to her and I urge you all to give her site a look. Not only does she have things she sells on it but she also has free recipes and ideas. She is a person that seems to live our UU Principles!

Preparing

by Sophia Rose (See Chalica Palace>)

Well today I am going to start preparing my house for Chalica. In my studies of other religious holiday - ie. Chanukah, Chinese New Year and others. there is a period of time before the holiday where one cleans the house for the holiday. Today I am going to start with this, some organizing, some putting away special dishes we used for Thanksgiving, and then I am going to finish my story: A Holiday for Tyler.

Plus I need to make sure I have the projector in the car and get the booklets copies oh and finish and copy the handouts for families and adults! So much to do... maybe more later!

Working on the Chalica Site

Today is my birthday and I have had a great day working on my Chalica site! This past week I have made some new Chalica friends: Sophia Rose of Chalice Palace and Rev. Lisa Romantum Schwartz of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Topeka, Kansas.
It is so great to see the idea of Chalica spread across the nation. I just want to thank evan for telling about Chalica and encouraging me to practice this new tradition.

Chalica

by Sophia Rose (see below)

CHALICA is an unofficial holiday originally conceived by Daylene Marshall of Vancouver, BC as a way to celebrate and put into intentional practice the Seven Principles of the Unitarian Universalist tradition - one a night, for seven nights. The celebration begins on the first Monday of December, and is marked by the lighting of a chalice each day (or evening). Gifts that reflect the particular day's Principle may be given, but the focus tends to be more on mindfulness and action.

The holiday has 3 specifically dedicated songs so far, thanks to evan austin and Dan Flores.

There's a booklet for the children. Another UU Sharon Camerell has made up a sheet on how to make your own recycled chalice.

Sophia Rose of Chalice Palace not only has the great flaming chalice clipart used above but lots of wonderful gift items for Unitarian Universalists. My personal favorite are the flaming Chalice Cookie cutters, the project ideas, earrings and the free items and...well you just need to explore this site yourself!