Heavy rain hit at 3:30PM on Tuesday. A total of 1.37 inches fell in my neighborhood during one hour. This not only overwhelmed the sewage system. This created buckled roads and a sinkhole under major road intersections right around my home.

My home is locked in a neighborhood locked with only a couple of ways out, and most of those roads lead directly to the damaged, closed areas. Even getting home is a pain because the roads are clogged with cars trying to get around the damaged roads. I was in my car so long yesterday that my right foot cramped up and driving was a pain. Yike! I guess I look forward to road repair and at least one lane to drive through.

*Photos from KSL TV video footage.

I am fortunate to be in a graduate study with a couple of women who study what media has done to destroy women’s self perception. They say that the term ‘beauty’ has been redefined to a look that is impossible to achieve. They have a great blog about their research and their presentations at Beauty-Redefined.net.

I want my daughters to know they are beautiful no matter what stage of life they are in. Their beauty is not determined by their weight or how pretty their hair or makeup is. Their beauty is determined by who they are, their actions, and by the tremendous beauty they enjoy without makeup or fanciness. I want my girls to always be happy with themselves and not have that happiness swayed by advertisements. I will point them to the Kite sister’s tips on how to take back their own beauty perception.

Moveon.org posted the following video of Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. who argues that advertising has killed women’s perceptions of themselves.

My joints are so achy. I am miserable and suspect that my vitamin D is low, again.

This problem is so vexing for me because I do not feel comfortable going outside to get a huge dose of sunshine. I had 50 cancerous spots burned off my hands, arms, and face a couple of months ago. There were so many spots that it took forever for them to heal. I cannot risk further damage to my skin that may cause skin cancer.

So many have commented on my blog that they take a large dose of vitamin every week, rather than a couple of over-the-counter pills every day. I am thinking I may have to go on such a prescription. Can you tell me how you are doing with 50,000 IU per week?

My favorite vitamin D3 pills are found in the organic supplements section of a Kroger grocery store. They are called “Naturally Preferred Vitamin D3″ (1,000 IU). These are wonderful little pills because they digest easily and work like a charm.

I have also been noticing the sustained popularity of my vitamin D blog posts. In this day of sunscreen and trying to avoid skin cancer, a lot of us experience vitamin D deficiency. This terrible deficiency really caused a lot of problems for me. I was recently reminded of this and told my daughter last night about the importance of me taking vitamin D.

I used to have terrible Depression. I took antidepressants that caused all sorts of terrible side effects. Once I lost my full time job a couple of years ago, I could no longer afford those pills. It was the best thing for me, because that is when I discovered that vitamin D was actually taking care of the Depression. I would not recommend anyone else stop taking their antidepressants without close supervision of a doctor and family. I had that. My doctor wishes that vitamin D “fixed” all of her patients, like it did for me. Granted, my asthma is not all fixed, but lots of awful things are fixed. Yay!

But I also have to believe that the training and confidence I have gained from the last six years of graduate study has also helped with my Depression. I am definitely a different, and I believe better, person. I am able to teach large classrooms very difficult concepts, while I work to help students and “change their lives.” My current studies are so good for me and for my future research. I am very grateful for my many opportunities and growth. I am also grateful for organic vitamin D pills.