Limeade With No Calories and All Natural Sweetener (Stevia): An Option to Soda That's Good 4 U

Every once in awhile, I post here about stevia as a sweetener, because it's just so wonderful -- all natural, no calories.  So much better for you than those artificial sweeteners, and there are those that claim stevia has additional health benefits.  It's been used in Europe, Japan, etc. for decades - centuries - but the FDA hasn't been too accommdating to the marketing of stevia in the American marketplace until recently. 

Stevia is great for diabetics.  Stevia also helps with things like high blood pressure and depression, and Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Michael Murray are both big fans of stevia. 

When I first starting buying stevia, my only option were the bottles of loose powder or liquid at the local health foods store.  Then, Whole Foods and Sun Harvest started offing stevia in individual packets.  This was handy, but whenever I pulled the little green packet out at the restaurant, no one knew what it was. 

Now, TruVia and PureVia are in your local grocery store, brought to you by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, respectively.  And other brands of stevia are popping up, as well.  Heck, I saw a big box of individual stevia packets for sale at Sam's Club under its own "Member's Mark" brand just last week. 

Now, let's think about limes.  Green, wonderful smelling limes.  They have all sorts of health benefits.  Limes  help digestion, help to heal ulcers, and they can detoxify the body.  Limes had stuff in them that help your gums too (as does stevia).  There's lots more on the health benefits of limes on the web if you want to investigate this in detail. 

Which leads us to today's recipe. 

Reba's Really Fabulous NoCal Limeade - Tastes Great and It's GOOD for You

Gallon pitcher
Juice of 4 big limes, 6 smaller ones
Stevia to taste (I still use my KAL shaker bottle, and put in around 12 shakes)
Water
Optional: slice another lime into circles and float them in the pitcher
Serve in big glasses over lotsa ice

This is so easy to make, and it takes sssooooo great.  I've given it away in quart jars, tied with gingham bonnets on the top and a bottle of stevia looped around the top with a ribbon to friends who I think will like stevia if they try it. 

Image: Backyard limes, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

How to Sell Your Gold Jewelry

I"ve written here about buying gold, heck - recently, I wrote about a site that is selling SEEDS for barter - but this morning, I realized that I hadn't thought about the flipside: selling your old gold jewelry. 

There are those TV ads, where you send your old gold off in an envelope, and voila! a check comes back to you in return mail.  Is this the best way to exchange one asset for another?  Maybe. Maybe not.  There's lots on the web about selling gold jewelry - here's some of the best stuff that I found out there:

1. Karen Datko at MSN Money warns that you're better off selling your old gold jewelry as JEWELRY, not as scrap metal, and explains why.
2. Susan Carpenter at the LA Times advises you on getting your stuff appraised -- and discusses the option of leaving your jewelry for sale with a consignment shop.  Did you know that there are things you can buy on the web to value the quality of your gold by yourself, at home?
3. E-How has a video that discusses how to sell used gold jewelry, and gives you the scoop on cleaning your jewelry as your first step.  (There are also other videos that demonstrate ways to clean jewelry, I suppose there are various methods.)
4. Consumer Reports has some advice for you, too.  From here, I learned that you need to ask a jeweler to weigh your gold jewelry in pennyweights or troy ounces.  Then, they've got an online calculator right there for you, to input your item's weight and get its value based on the price of gold that day.  Cool.
5. EBay Jewelry Selling Guide is filled with all sorts of details.  Vintage jewelry?  Still in the box?  Little details that may make a difference in the sales price are collected here, along with lots of advice on setting a price and maximizing your sale. 

Image:  Gold and Platinum Rings, Wikimedia Commons - public domain

Peaceful Places - Find Your Own Place of Peace

Living a simple life does not mean living a slow, sluggardly one.  For instance, no one lives a life more simple that the Amish - and they're busy from 5 am to bedtime.  (By the way, lots of good info on the Amish has been collected by Amish,Net though the Amish themselves, of course, aren't on the web.)

Living a peaceful life takes some work.

There's the daily check on what's going on -- strife can sneak in when you least expect it.  Letting go of anger, forgiving those who've done wrong to you (which doesn't mean you're a doormat allowing repetitive abuse, by the way), overcoming frustration, are all things that are continual tasks when you're trying to move forward in life. 

Having a personal spot, a place of peaceful surroundings, can be a great big help. 

Long ago, back when I was living the Materialistic Lifestyle, if you'd asked me about a peaceful place I would have responded that for me, it was the beach and that I went there a couple of times a year.  A good friend felt the same way, but the answer was the Rocky Mountains. 

In stressful times, having these vacation spots as the only place that you can find a peaceful spot isn't enough  because they are too hard to reach, too far away.  You need to know Your Place of Peace in advance of a Stressful Time (because, Dear Reader, they are periodically guaranteed), that you can access almost immediately.  You need a nearby place of peace that you can incorporate into your routine.  

What's a Personal Place of Peace?

As a Christian, I obviously include prayer as one of the big things that happens in a place of peace.  However, it's more than a prayer spot. 

A personal place of peace is an oasis from everything else in your life where you can get some distance, mentally as well as spiritually, and hopefully, some perspective. 

It's a place where there is no additional input -- other than beauty -- which allows you to gain control over your emotions, get a stress break, and put a halt to running from problems or reacting instead of being proactive about things.  You're there alone, by the way -- a golf game or a drink at a bar are NOT places of peace. 

Also, it needs to be close to home or work, where you can reach it within 10 to 15 minutes by car or foot.  Sometimes, your place of peace can help you just by knowing you have this Secret Oasis nearby -- imagining it during a meeting, a traffic jam, or a family fight can really, really help. 

What You Take With You

Maybe you take a Bible, maybe you bring a Journal.  Maybe you listen to music (but it needs to be appropriate, not distracting).  Books that bring you encouragement and supportive thoughts can be helpful (from Joel Osteen to Erma Bombeck to Shakespearean Sonnets, this is a personal thing).  Sure, you can have something to drink or eat (if you're there awhile, this may be a prerequisite, or all you'll be thinking about is how great a cheeseburger sounds). 

Where do You go?

Ah, the big question.  You, Dear Reader, have to go FIND your personal place of peace.  Consider yourself on a mission.  It can be a public park, a garden, a museum, the rooftop of a skyscraper ... it could be the zoo.  I have a friend who has a zoo membership, and regularly leaves his office to walk the zoo just to think and pray and get "re-grounded."

How he can eat there (he brings a snack) is beyond me because the wild animal poop smell cannot be escaped no matter how great the San Antonio Zoo is about keeping things tidy. Which just goes to show, one person's place of peace is another person's place of distracting smelly elephant poop. 

Worthy of note: this is a man who is a position of tremendous power, a Big Kahuna guy, and he makes a lot of jokes about how he escapes one zoo by going to another.  It works for him.

Drives are good, they may start out with that fantasy of just driving and driving until you hit a Coast, East or West, but for peaceful places they aren't the best because you do have to be safe while driving a vehicle that weighs around 3500 lbs.  A place of peace can involve crying, or yelling, the release of emotion -- and you need to be free to allow those things to escape you without being worried about Big Rigs on the road.  Better: a pretty drive that leads you to a pretty place.  Maybe a great view -- you can stay in the car, just don't keep driving forever. 

Places of Peace are Private.  One last thing, Dear Reader -- when you've found your place of peace, don't blabber about it to everyone.  Keep it your secret oasis, it's part of its power: knowing that you're in a safe spot for a mental and spiritual breather where you won't be interrupted is important.  Plus, it's fun to have your own SECRET PLACE in the world. 

Image:  Female African Bush elephant (named “Duchess”) at Paignton Zoo, Paignton, Devon. Wikimedia Commons, public domain.