Effective immediately, only registered LJ'ers can post to this journal. Apparently I became a spam target and I got tired of getting spammage in my comment mail. :(

Flavored gelatin is one of my favorite quick deserts. Sadly, it either comes with sugar (Carrrrbs) or artificial sweeteners (ewwwwww) so I've been looking for options.

It's tough. It's really tough. I didn't realize HOW tough until some friends and I started looking around. :(

I did stumble across some forums with posts from people who were looking for the same thing I was, and with the same restriction (no artificial sweeteners) - so I know I'm not the only one who doesn't want artificial garbage in my foodstuffs. :)

Best thing the internet masses could come up with so far was both simple and brilliant:

Unflavored gelatin
+ unsweetened flavored drink mix (i.e., Kool-Aid)
+ Stevia

This will likely take some experimentation at your end, as well - "unflavored" gelatin does still have *something* of a flavor, which will dull the flavor of the drink mix a bit.

One box of unflavored gelatin has 4 packets. I probably could have used 2 and gotten things gelled just as well - using all four (the package said to!) made it VERY thickly gelled.

So it looks like the final recipe will be close to:

+ 2 packets unflavored gelatin
+ 1 packet flavored drink mix (size that makes 2 quarts in usual use)
+ 43 drops liquid stevia

Because not all stevia is created equal... THIS one is the variety we're using.

If you find another brand, the sweetness may not be the same - it may be more or less sweet, so experiment....start off with about half that with a liquid and work up from there, or if you're using packet powder stevia, then *literally* start off with a few grains at a time, rather than just assuming a whole packet will be fine.

Enjoy!

Some of the audience out there already know my household has been doing the low-carb thing the last few months. This post will give a bit of an introduction for those new to the idea, plus the basics. Some of you may be familiar with Atkins, South Beach, and Paleo type diets, this is *similar* in that it is low-carb. I'm NOT familiar with the specifics of the other three, or any other varients, so I can't say HOW similar - but I'll tell you all the basics of THIS one at least.

( The basics )


So, now that I've gone over the "bad stuff" on this diet, I'm sure you're going "what CAN we eat?!" It's relatively simple, really, but it CAN get repetitive. And also, depending on how high quality you like your meats, it can be expensive too. Just warning you upfront. :)

( The details )

I'll start posting recipes soon, but I wanted to put the basic principles out here first so the rest would make sense to folks as time goes on.

As an intro to the folks reading only this LJ, we've been experimenting with some dietary changes over the last several months. People have asked me to share some of the recipes, and I've been trying to think of a central location to do that in for a while. I guess I'll just post 'em here since LJ has an RSS feed capability for those who want it.

Look for recipes to start showing up in a few days. :)

The Sangi update has been updated with news from this morning.

The Sangi Update is updated as of this morning with information from last night.

Scroll down for updates
Latest update: 11:55pm on 28 Feb


As many of you know out there, Sanguinarius (of Sanguinarius.org) has had some medical issues cropping up fairly frequently in the last few months, leaving her offline a good portion of the time.

Last night, we received word in IRC that Sangi is in the ICU at the hospital, on life support, for a life threatening heart condition. She needs surgery, but from what I heard, the doctors - at least as of yesterday [Feb 4] - were of the opinion she may not be strong enough to even HAVE the necessary surgery.

I know many of you out there belong to healing circles, prayer circles and/or are gifted in healing. If you are able, please send out your good thoughts, prayers, light some candles, etc. (whatever is appropriate for your faith path) to give her enough strength for surgery. She's 40 years old and lives near Tucson, Arizona if that assists any needed directionals for healing work.

Sangi has given tons of herself to this community, and has been an inspiration to many more. Let's give her all the positive healing power this community can muster to help her get through this.

Thank you.

---

Medical Bills
To my knowledge, since I know the type of insurance she has, medical bills -should- be covered by her insurance due to the necessity of the treatment. I'll get the word out if I hear differently.

** She says donations are welcome, she doesn't know whether the insurance
** will cover everything or if there will be copays and stuff for all this.
** Sangi's donation page

Cards
Some people have asked where to send cards; I don't know yet where they can be sent. I'll add a note here as soon as I do.

---

Update Feb 5
(From comment below)
Beeest13: "Sangi is stable now and they have removed the breathing tube. Apparently her heart stopped but they brought her back. I will see her tomorrow. Thank you all for your prayers and kind thoughts."

---

Update Feb 6, 11pm
Vampy04 posted @ vampirism E-list:
As of Feb.6, Sangi is out of ICU! She is still weak and cannot undergo the
needed surgery; but chatting with her via the phone, showed her determination to
leave the hospital as soon as she can! I live near her; so I will keep a close eye
on her when she does go home from the hospital, as she is a very close and dear
friend to me. Vampy04

---

Feb 7 @ 5:40pm
I (Sphynx) talked to Sangi for a few minutes this evening. I caught her her just as they were coming to move her back to the ICU; the doctor is concerned that she spent most of the day sleeping, and she's still having breathing issues. :( I wasn't able to talk to her for long, so I don't have any more details yet. Beeest13 said she had pneumonia last week; leftovers from that may be some of the breathing complications.

---

Feb 9 @ 6:00pm
Sangi is BACK OUT of the ICU and into a room again! She's sounding much better on the phone today, so she's definitely breathing better.

---

Feb 11 @ Noon
She's still in the hospital; still sounding good and breathing good while I was on the phone with her. I got to talk to her for about 15 minutes before the staff came and wanted to talk to her about food choices. :) She said they're giving her an ECG every morning (likely checking her heart) and they're giving her breathing treatments every 4 hours to keep her breathing decently.

(Those of you who were asking about donations, scroll up - I put that link in the upper part of this post.)

---

Feb 13 @ 11pm
She was sounding a bit spacey today; oxygen saturation was decent, at least; the nurse was going to contact the doctor to have him figure out what's going on. They took her off the blood thinner drip and have her taking it in a pill, and the bipap machine seems to have been working overnights without issue. She thinks they MIGHT be thinking of letting her go home tomorrow or tuesday (barring any potential problems tonight) but they haven't come out and said so directly. (Since they took her off the drip, it sounds like they want to let her go home soon.)

---

Feb 14 @ 11:30pm
Sangi's still in the hospital; they started her on a blood thinner pill yesterday and today she was nauseated and vomiting so they're keeping her longer to *try* and figure out what's going on.

---

Feb 16 @ 9:30pm from Vampy04 @ Vampire-Discussion

"Sangi was given medicine for nausea and within a few minutes was unresponsive; so back to ICU she went. The doctors seem to feel that she had an allergic reaction to the nausea medicine. They had to reinsert the endotracheal tube; but she was able to write notes to her mother while they were visiting together and she is back on the ventilator for now as well. Needless to say, Sangi is really bumbed out as she was really looking forward to going home this week. I'll keep you all posted on her progress and let's hope she can go home soon!"

---

Feb 18 @ 11:14pm from Vampy04 @ Vampire-Discussion

Sangi's condition remains the same and there is no word of when she
will be transferred out of the ICU unit. She remains alert and is
handling the set back well. The docs still feel that the allergic
reaction is what caused her to have to be in the ICU unit. I'll keep
you all posted on her condition.

---

Feb 20 @ 9:17pm from Vampy04 @ Vampire-Discussion
Sangi remains in ICU and has been dealing with nausea/vomiting to the point that she brought up her feeding tube. The docs are leaving the feeding tube out for now and she still remains on the ventilator. They are considering removing the endotracheal tube and seeing if she can maintain her blood gases within accceptable values. If she cannot, then they will reinsert the endo tube and schedule her for a tracheotomy which will be in place for several weeks. Sangi remains alert and continues to write notes to her mom during visits. I have asked Sangi's friend to let her mom know that if she will give my name to the ICU nurses, I will be more than happy to visit Sangi as her mom lives out of town. I will keep you all posted on Sangi and there has been no word of how long she will remain in the ICU unit.

---

Feb 23 @ 11am from beeest13
(beeest13): just wanted to update ya on Sangi. She had a seizure last night and they did a MRI. Havent evaluated it completely yet but will no more later. They are sheduling her for a trach sometime today. Dr. said she is becoming too dependent on the breathing tube. Will update more later as I find out. Her mom spent the night at hospital and will call me later.

---

Feb 23 @ 11:27pm from Vampy04 @ Vampire-Discussion List
I just spoke with the ICU nurse who is caring for Sangi, and she is
holding her own. They reinserted the feeding tube and she has had no
bouts of nausea or vomitting; so good news! She is still on the
ventilator and I plan to go and visit her later, today.

---

Feb 25 @ 2:15am from Vampy04 @ Vampire-Discussion List
I visited Sangi in ICU Thursday evening and she was sitting up in a soft chair as I entered her room. She maybe having a tracheotomy done tomorrow; but no orders had been written as I left the unit, so who knows? Sangi wrote me that the waiting for them do to this surgery is really getting to her; so I relayed her feelings to her nurse in hopes the docs will schedule the surgery. I asked Sangi if she wanted to tell you all anything and this is what she wrote, "Don't give up on me"! I assured her that this would never happen and she squeezed my hand. Hopefully the tracheotomy will be done; so Sangi can talk instead of having to communicate by writing notes to her visitors. I am well versed in trach care; so if she comes home with a trach, I can do the necessary care. I went to Walmart and found a stuffed cat that looks like her cat, Socks, and will give her the stuffed cat when I see her this coming Saturday. As a witch, I can charm inanimate objects; so I will make the cat toy give her a warm and cozy feeling whenever she hugs it. I shall let you all know her progress after I see her this coming weekend.

---

Feb 26 @ 12:50am from Vampy04 @ Vampire-Discussion List
Friday afternoon, Sangi was taken to surgery and a tracheal tube was inserted with good results. I will wait until Sunday to see her and shall let you all know how she is doing.

---

Feb 28 @ 9pm from Vampy04 @ Vampire-Discussion List
I went to the hospital to see Sangi and gave her the stuffed cat that I had charged with positive energy. As soon as she huggd it; she felt the energy and smiled from ear to ear. She may be moved today from ICU to a step down unit which shows progress; woo hoo! While visiting with her, I rubbed her back and brushed her hair to show her how much I care about her as a very dear friend of mine. She is still on the ventilator and is tolerating her tube feedings with no problems. I plan to see her later this week; so I'll give you all an update on her progress! As I left her room, she was lying down with her stuffed cat in her arms. Vampy04

Feb 28 @ 11:50pm from Vampy04 @ Vampire-Discussion List
Sangi's mom just called me to let me know that Sangi is out of ICU, is able to talk now, it walking the halls of the hospital, and the feeding tube is gone. She ate a hamburger and is off the ventilator for intervals now. I can't wait to get her home and I'll make frequent visits to her to help care for her cats. Vampy04

---

Mar 3, 2011 3:48 am from Vampy04 @ Vampire-Discussion
Last evening, while talking to Sangi via the telephone, she told me that the docs are comsidering sending her home today; so let's keep our fingers crossed and hope it becomes a reality! Vampy04

---

Mar 3, 2011 - Evening
Sangi is HOME!!!


Yes, I will update this post as I get more information, but be warned ahead of time that it may be very sporadic. Feel free to bookmark this post.

For those who may be wondering, comments from people who are not on my LJ friends list are screened - don't panic, this is just to keep spammers from having a free ride - I'm approving everything other than spam periodically throughout my waking periods.

Read 'em and enjoy...

Blood: Nutritional and Common Uses Around the World



Attention spammers and random link droppers:
Comments on all my public posts from anyone NOT on my friends list are MODERATED. I'm the only one that sees your links for unrelated idiocy, and I DON'T CLICK THEM. I just delete them.

Thank you for playing, move along now. :)

PURPOSE OF THIS LJ
This LJ is for notices of official site updates and community news, plus whatever else seems to fit along the same lines. As such, updates may be erratic depending on what else is going on in my life at the moment (though I often will be logging in to read more often than I actually post.)

FRIENDS LIST INFO
Feel free to add me, and I will add you back (unless you're a spammer or have stuff on your LJ I feel isn't safe for most R-rated audiences).

I may occasionally add random people either who's writing I enjoy reading, OR who I believe are part of the real vampire community, so if you see sphynxcat_news pop up in your list of people who've friended you, that's why, especially if I just added you to be able to read your public posts without an expectation of reciprocal friending. :) If you don't wish to be listed on my friends list, simply ask (comment to this, or any other entry of mine you see) to be removed and I will do so as soon as I am able.

In any case, please understand there is no offense intended by my friending you, it is NOT meant to indicate that someone is part of the online vampire community when they really -aren't-, and you are under NO obligation to friend me back.

IMPORTANT NOTE - LANGUAGES:
If you are not a native speaker of English, be aware that I really cannot read any language other than English unless I can find a good translation tool. If you can point me to an online tool with at least some reliability, that would be great. If you can't, and you wish to friend me anyway, that's fine too - just be aware I probably won't comment on your entries as a result of the language barrier.

SCREENING
All comments are screened for this entry. Doesn't mean you can't post, just means spammers don't have an automatic free ride. :)

I've been seeing this link float across some of the lists I read, leading to a "monster licenses" website, and spazzing about how people need to register.

Well, let me clear the air on it. Total. Complete. Bunk.

Would love to know what movie this is viral PR for, though.

The "Privacy Policy" page (link is at the bottom of every page, kids, if I can find it, so can you...) contains this clause: "...The SRA is a fictional agency and this site and the documents it provides are for novelty purposes only...."

(No, not going to link the site. It seems everyone else already knows where it is anyway.)

---

Spammers and random link droppers:
Don't bother. Nobody will see them. I won't click them. You're wasting your time.
(Google translation: Не беспокойтесь. Никто не будет их видеть. Я не буду нажимать на них. Вы тратите свое время.)

Yea, ya'll can stop falling over in shock now. :)

I've been busy working on a forum, and it's officially opened to the public today. :)

The nay-sayers in the crowd (you know who you are) will be happy to note that the forum is open to everyone, and the rules are viewable to the general public so ya'll can see what's up before registering.

What's different about this board? Well, for one, the drama/chatter section is OPT-IN ONLY. And for another, I'm running it. Anything else? Will depend on the members of the forum.... :)


Click to visit Shambala

I had a lovely chat with a couple friends in Second Life this morning. Here's a picture. :)

( Behind the cut to save layouts. Also, warning: furries. Tiny ones, but furries. )

New for the month of August:

Support / Health & Medical
* New: Porphyria
* Updated/New: Digestive / GI problems: Disease processes
* Updated: Digestive / GI Problems: Transient [Temporary] Issues
* Updated: Food Poisoning
* New: Circadian Rhythms: Delayed Sleep Phase
* New: Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome

Support / Bloodvamps:
* New Addition: Zaar's Pseudo Blood Recipe

Support / Donors:
* New Addition: The Act by Giselle

Support / Awakening:
* New Addition: Awakening To Confusion by Sebastian DeCavalier
* New Addition: Information For the Newly Awakened by Sebastian DeCavalier

Interact / Forums:
* Updated: Forums page (cleaned up and new links)

New article: Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (Not just a vampire problem! heh...)

Updated / New article: GI Problems - Transient Issues
This covers things like food sensitivity, chemicals in the diet, and so on. Links have been cleaned up and updated. Also new section for uncommon, but also transient/temporary issues.

Ok, so it's not really a holiday, but... it IS the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment - that which gave women the right to vote. :)

No, kids, "suffrage" in this case does NOT mean "suffering" - get a clue!

Updated/New: Digestive Problems: Disease Processes

Because some people still keep trotting out porphyria as a vampire thing.... Here's my article on Porphyria.

Here's the site updates for this month:

Anecdotes
http://sphynxcatvp.nocturna.org/suppt/anecdotes.html
* Added: Of Trains and Tunnels and What's at the End, by LadyCG

Health & Medical
http://sphynxcatvp.nocturna.org/suppt/health.html
* New article: Abdominal Pain
* New article: Vitamin D Deficiency
* New article: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
* New article: Fibromyalgia
* New article: Nightshades and Arthritis

Psi - Other
http://sphynxcatvp.nocturna.org/suppt/psi-other.html
* New article: Group Magick and Egregores

For those who think I may be overdoing it when I prod members of the community to take vitamin D...here's an article explaining WHY I do that. :)

Vitamin D Deficiency

With links-a-plenty for those who are skeptical of vitamins to begin with. :)

Group Magick and Egregores

Back to my regularly sprouting line of medical articles next week. :)

Health & Medical
http://sphynxcatvp.nocturna.org/suppt/health.html
* New: Anemia Overview
* New: Circadian Rythms Overview
* New: Dealing with Photosensitivity: Sunscreens
* New: Joint Pain Overview
* New: Malnutrition: Protein Deficiency
* Updated: Dealing with Photosensitivity: General
* Added: Prions, Kuru, Cannibals and Sanguinarians by Sarasvati
* Added: Depression by Sanguinarius

Bloodvamps
http://sphynxcatvp.nocturna.org/suppt/bloodvamp.html
* Added: Animal Blood by Sarasvati
* Added: Psychological? Research Before Implying by Cynsanity
* Added: Bloodwine, Improved by Cynsanity

Donors
http://sphynxcatvp.nocturna.org/suppt/donors.html
* Added: Vampire Ethics by Isealdor

Otherkin
http://sphynxcatvp.nocturna.org/suppt/otherkin.html
* Added Hidden Truths of the Hidden by Gorath

Psi Defense
http://sphynxcatvp.nocturna.org/suppt/psionic.html
* Added: Shielding around Vampires by Isealdor

New article posted: Joint Pain Overview

You may need to right-click, then "open in new tab/window" - I noticed LJ didn't seem to want to send me down an earlier link with just a click, but I don't know if it's me or LJ.

Site changes for the month of April:

Awakening Section:
* Added Myrbree's article: The Difference Between Want and Need

Donors Section:
* Added Giselle's Article: Why I Became A Donor
* Added diss' article: What Does It Feel Like?
* Added diss' article: dessert
* Added Sarasvati's article: Bloodletting

Health & Medical Section:
* Restructured to put things in a more logical order
* Added new article: Pica Basics
* Added new article: Thyroid Disease 101
* Added new article: Iron & Iron Deficiency

More articles on their way as I work through the backlog of my "To Do" list! :)