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Wednesday, March 7, 2007 · Page 10 From: Her Desk Drawer Acorn Squash With Honey & Almonds In this recipe, it's important to roast the almonds separately from the squash. If the almonds are roasted on top of the squash wedges, they won't become as toasty and crunchy as they should. 1 large acorn squash 1 tablespoon almond oil 1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon honey 3/4 cup slivered almonds, roasted Preheat oven to 375°F. Place squash in oven and bake 15 minutes, until soft enough to slice open. Cut squash in quarters and remove seeds and strings. Brush flesh with almond oil and sprinkle with thyme and salt. Return to oven and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, until soft. Remove; drizzle with honey, sprinkle with roasted almonds and serve. - News Canada Taking Care of Our Emotional Health Self- Help Reading All of us experience situations in life when we feel stuck, over-whelmed, and just plain confused! We may choose to turn to family, friends, or a professional for advice. We may try to sort things out on our own. Others find a support group of likeminded people, or those experiencing the same issue, to be immensely helpful. In the last few years, there has been a significant rise in the popularity of self-help books as a resource for dealing with life issues. The Internet and our bookstores are stocked with books on virtually every issue imaginable! Not all of these books are really helpful, but here are five that I recommend: Do One Thing Different: Ten Simple Ways to Change Your Life (Bill O'Hanlon, 1999). Written by an established marriage and family therapist, this book is an engaging and easy-to-read look at how to find and use solution patterns to create change. E.g. "What do you know on the golf course that you forget when you get behind the wheel of a car?" This book is filled with practical and effective strategies to help us gain control of our emotions and life. Grounded in theory and practice, it's not `fluffy' or `simplistic', as many selfhelp books can be. Emotional Longevity: What Really Determines How Long You Live (Norman Anderson, 2003). best books on marriage I've come across. Putting Children First: A Guide for Parents Breaking Up (Hanna McDonough and Christina Bartha, 1999) Marital separation and divorce is a painful reality and often not a very `safe haven' for families. This book should be required reading for parents who find themselves in the midst of a separation and custody dispute. Written by two therapists in Toronto, it is a `survival kit' of healthy protocols and dangerous emotional pitfalls to beware of. The potential damage done to children during and after the break-up can be managed well, utilizing the strategies these authors share. My Therapist's Dog: Lessons in Unconditional Love (Diana Wells, 2004). Our dog Abbey wanted this book included on the list! When Diana Wells' 24 year-old son committed suicide and her sister died a few weeks later, she found herself reaching for the services of a therapist. In exchange for sessions she could not afford, Wells became the caretaker of her therapist's Labrador retriever Luggs. What resulted is a beautiful story of healing, and a touching memoir of the relationship between humans and canines. Our pets, and the connection we have with them, do have much to teach us! john postons M.S.W. This book provides a new definition of what it means to be healthy. It identifies the links between biology and social environment, and how our beliefs and emotions influence our health and well-being. Well-researched and written, it offers practical keys to living a longer and more fulfilling life. Most selfhelp is really in search of this. Safe Haven Marriage: Building a Marriage You Want to Come Home To (Archibald Hart and Sharon Hart Morris, 2003). Making a marriage work, whether it is a stable marriage that we want to last or a struggling marriage in need of re-building, is a challenging endeavour in 2007. This book offers a vision of the healthy marriage as a `safe haven', one built on trust, emotional availability, and sensitive responsiveness. The authors share practical steps and tools for how to make this vision an enduring reality. It's one of the Change clocks and smoke alarm batteries earlier this year (NC)--In a bid to save energy, North Americans will change their clocks to Daylight Saving Time three weeks early in 2007. Instead of the usual "spring forward" move of clocks ahead one hour happening the first Sunday in April, the ritual will take place on the second Sunday of March, March 11, at 2:00 a.m. Remember that when you change your clocks, it is also a perfect time to change the batteries in your smoke alarms and CO alarms. As well, check to ensure your smoke alarms are not over 10 years old and your CO alarms are not over 7 years old. If they are, their sensors are past their recommended life and the alarms must be replaced. This applies to both battery operated and alarms hardwired into the electrical system of your home.