Elegant Blessings

A glass of mango/guava juice...and thou...

2012-01-29T12:25:00.000-08:00

. Or something. Read about the antibiotic I am taking and it said to stay away from caffeine..this right after I made a pitcher of green tea/earl grey for iced tea. Sigh..the bright side is all it said was that it would intensify the effects. lol. (Like that's a bad thing)... Also supposed to stay out of sunlight. It's Cipro--isn't that the stuff they give to people exposed to Anthrax and the Bird Flu ????? Crikey.

Got some chicken thighs in the microwave thawing. The Irishman would like lemon chicken for his Sunday dinner, and I thought I still had some boneless/skinless breasts in there somewhere, but I can't locate them. Just as well. This package of thighs has been in there almost a year. (oops). It'll work. I'll marinate them in some lemon juice and bake them, I think, and then make a lemon sauce to go on them atop a bed of Jasmine rice. (Can you tell I'm feeling better???)

It's been an emotional morning here for me. I got a text this morning from a friend telling me that another friend of ours is at St Louis University Hospital on life support. He is about my age (might be a little younger) and sober a lot of years. He was involved in a semi crash a few weeks ago and was almost ready to return to work. Apparently on Saturday night there was some kind of altercation and a stand-off at his place of work. He left there (I think) and went to his house, where he doused the place in gasoline and tried to burn it down. When it didn't burn, he shot himself in the head. He is on life support, last word, but not expected to live. And I just can't imagine.... he has always been a loner, something that probably happens when you're a long distance trucker. But every time I saw him, he always had a smile and a kind word. He SEEMED okay. I don't know what happens to make a person feel they have no other option besides killing themselves. I think about how lonely and hopeless that place must be, and it breaks my heart. And I am as guilty as anyone for not knowing what's been going on with him, calling him, making sure he knew that somebody, anybody, cared. It is absolutely tragic.

It is a gorgeous January day outside. Must be at least 45 degrees. This next week they're predicting temps in the 50's and 60's. Hell, I may as well plant some spinach. lol One of the worst windier storms we had tore up the plastic on our greenhouse, so I can't plant anything there. But we could put some cold frames over a bed, couldn't we? (And by WE, of course I mean my husband). lol And if we do that, we could plant some other things too. I was just out back, emptying my compost bucket and gathering eggs, and I stopped by the kale bed, which is still doing pretty well, everything considered. I plucked a small new-ish leaf and popped it into my mouth, and was blissed out by the sweetness of it. In January. Ahhhhhh......

Well, I'd better get in the kitchen and get that marinade started. I've folded a load of laundry and am taking it slow and easy today. I did a little cleaning yesterday (Thanks anyway, Kristen!! xoxoxo) and a little laundry and was worn out by the time it was over. Spent the rest of the afternoon watching The Vicar of Dibley --from a boxed set I got us for Xmas a couple of years ago. It was awesome.

Hope everyone is well and happy...and don't forget to pay attention to the people in your life. If they're needing a friend, or an ear, or a shoulder...make sure they have one. If all of us let the people we know that we care--that we're here for them--maybe tragedies like my friend Roger can be averted.

It can't hurt to try.

Namaste.

What day is it ?

2012-01-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

I think I have been run over by a semi...filled with crud. My body hurts from lying around so much. My throat is sore from coughing so much. My head hurts and my eyes water and my nose runs...my ribs hurt and I'm so tired...

I went to the doctor today (finally) because I have been sick for too many days in a row. And the coughing is keeping me from sleeping, and it's the weekend and the over the counter cough stuff isn't touching this crap. so the doc did some cultures and some x-rays and came back after way too long and told me I have a bacterial infection in my lungs. The rest of it is just a bad bad cold. No fever, no extreme symptoms (which would point to flu). He gave me antibiotics and codeine cough syrup and told me to stay at home for at least 4 days and let this clear up before it turns into pneumonia. I took him at his word....I have had bacterial pneumonia, and I sure don't want that again. Because as bad as I feel now, that time I really thought I was going to meet my maker.

Ai Yi Yi...

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Yesterday afternoon, (in the middle of one of my sleep-a-thons), the vet's office called and said they had a lot of cancellations (people afraid of the predicted weather) and that if we wanted to move Bella's spay appointment up to Friday, they would have her in. In my muddled brain, I didn't even think about it, just muttered yes, sure. So, this morning, the Irishman hauled her 55 pound butt up to the vet's office. They kept her all day, and after he took me to the doctor and brought me back home, he took my prescriptions and headed up to have them filled and pick her up by 5. (The closest pharmacy is 15 miles to the north, right on the way to the vet's office). Bless his heart. He is a good man, and I am one very lucky woman...

She's still pretty wonky...and in some pain, I would guess. Keeps moving from one blanket to the next, one room to another. We just put the water dish down for her--they said after 8:30 and no food til tomorrow. She keeps trying to vomit, but there's no food in her belly since midnight last night. She looks so pitiful....she'll be better in the morning....

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Dear sweet Beth Marie has honored me with a blog award. And now, in my run down condition, I have to try to think of 5 blogs to hand it off to. (just kidding) It's this one:

Growing up in a German farming community, I know that Liebster means beloved ... and there are several blogs that fit the bill...

It's for us bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers and each must link back to the blog they got it from.

(May I have the envelope please.??? drum roll)

1) Lori, at Beyond Dirt, my Creative Journey because she thinks like I do! lol

2) MEEMSNYC at Gardening in the burroughs because she continues to amaze me with her blog and recipes and everything in between!

3) Linda, at Hello, it's me Because I admire her so much, her fiber art, her heart and her courage. xoxoxo

4) Judy at My freezer is full She juggles the farm, the job and the family, as well as all the stuff in between.

and finally....

5) Dear Sandra...at Wild Magnolia. Her blog is a thing of beauty, as is she. Reading her is sure to brighten your day!

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Wow. I did it, and my head didn't even explode. Although I do feel like it's time to lie down again....this stuff is kicking my butt. My house is a giant disaster. The laundry is piling up. And my kitchen is a mess. (That's the hardest thing-to me). I try to never go to bed with a dirty sink, but it's happened twice in the past few days...and may happen again tonight. Hopefully the Queen of England won't be coming by for a visit any time soon. (An old joke--I have always been a little whack about cleaning, and my mother once said, "What?- Are you expecting the Queen of England????" )

Alright, my darlings...I am off to the bed again. I pray that you all stay well and happy....and take care when out and about in the inclement weather (which we are supposed to have coming in again tonight). Whether you're walking or driving...be careful!!

Namaste.

Ick. I think I'm sick.

2012-01-23T22:29:00.000-08:00

I remember reading a little blurb about actor John Gielgud once in the Readers Digest. It was talking about him being in a very popular play and was invited to an after hours party in his honor. He apparently thought he needed rest, or was coming down with something and declined the invite..and sent along a little note saying;

"Gielgud...doesn't feel good."

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And I don't feel good today. My throat (isn't really sore) feels swollen and not right. MY stomach hurts a little. I have a tiny cough. And I am basically exhausted. I got up at 8:30 this morning and then lay down for a nap at 11:30 and slept until 2. I am just NOT right. sigh.... I am taking Vitamin C and also echinacea with C...and--oooooo...I just found the zinc lozenges-I knew I had some somewhere.

I should be in bed now instead of blathering away about nothing.

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Bella woke up feeling much better--whatever was wrong last night must have some simple, passing thing. Thank goodness. Everyone but me is now in bed and asleep. And I should be too. I told myself I would be in bed at a decent time tonight and now it's already after midnight. Damn. I get so lost reading blogs...

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So, off to bed I go. It's a chilly 27 degrees outside and warmer in here. I have my flannel jammies on and really there is nothing stopping me from heading in to the other room. I'll snuggle into those warm sheets and big quilt and sleep the sleep of the innocent.

RIGHT??

Namaste

Has the world gone crazy ???

2012-01-22T22:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!!

It's the year of the Dragon.

My year.

WooHoo!!

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It's crazy out there. I just checked again because between the time I let the dogs out and then let them back in, the temperature came up another 5 degrees. It's now 51. FIFTY-ONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Do you see how crazy that sounds??) lol We have been having thunder and lightning and rain and warm. And it's January, people!

It was so foggy on the drive home tonight that I couldn't see 3 feet in front of the car. Had to drive home about 30 mph all the way.

And it's supposed to be very windy and drop back down to the low 30's tomorrow morning.

I am absolutely flamboozled by it all.

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Something is wrong with our Bella...she wouldn't take a cookie this evening and she wouldn't even eat a Good& Plenty (her favorite snack). She came in here wanting to be put in her crate and she's acting all strange and I hope it's something that will go away tonight...She went out for a little while but didn't want to stay long. She seems to be sleeping it off...got my fingers crossed...

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I am taking my Oreck in to the shop for a cleaning and tune-up in the morning. Then I'm meeting someone for breakfast that I haven't seen or talked to in a while...looking forward to that. Then I'll mosey back home and take care of a few things. Then it's off again...

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Got a lot of housecleaning and laundry done today while the Irishman was gone...vacuumed everything since the vac will be in the shop a day or two. Maybe that's why my neck and back are hurting so bad tonight...I cannot for the life of me seem to get comfortable. In the midst of all the cleaning, I managed to cook an oven fried chicken supper with green beans and mashed potatoes and gravy. A real midwestern fare. lol My husband was like a little boy--Oooo--GRAVY!!!! lol--I don't make gravy very often, and he loves it. We had a quick meal together before I left for MissB's.

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Still trying to learn how to use my iPhone. It's getting better all the time, and I'm sure I've tapped as much of it's potential as I have my own brain. lol But I'm finally easily using the keypad, which is a big change from the one on my old phone, and which took a while to master. I'm not great at it, but I am a lot better. I've taken a few pictures and I'm learning to navigate it a little better.

Yay-ME!!

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I am really feeling weird. There's a low humming in my head/ears. I'm faintly nauseous and stiff as a board in all my joints. Strange....

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Time for bed, I think.

This too shall pass.

TTFN.

lol

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Namaste.

Saturday in the Tundra...

2012-01-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

Half heartedly looked for pictures of ice, ice storms, ice on the chicken coop...anything! But there was nothing I could fine that suited me. LOL I did not take any pictures yesterday or today.

Got a call from MissB's niece this morning asking me about getting out and said it didn't look good over here. She said not at her place either. I got to stay home today with my Irishman. I got to stay in my pajamas ALL day and watch schmaltzy Hallmark Channel movies. He almost went outside to get the kerosene heater cleaned up and ready to use if needed, but he never made it. (He even had his big mud boots on!) We had a late breakfast of home made buttermilk pancakes and eggs and hot dark chocolate. Then about 3 we had a big bowl of popcorn. Then at about 6 we had pizza and salad...with peach short cake for dessert. It was an absolutely lazy day.

The movies we watched were all a string of stuff all based on books written by someone named Janette Oke (Love Comes Softly)...about homesteaders in the late 1800's (I think) and all about love and family values and God. I told the Irishman that I was nearly family values saturated...but they were lovely movies. (Probably not anything I would ever have watched unless we were having an Iced-in day ). And actually, it was really something, watching the trials they faced and the hard realities of living the homesteading life back then.

By dark, all the ice had melted off the roads and the temps actually came up to about 30. At one point , all the dogs were in the house but one, and when I went looking for her, I stepped out the back door and called her. Her location was given away by 2 male cats sitting in the yard and staring intently at the pond. Of course, it was the snow dog.

You must know that one of my biggest fears here this time of year, is that one of the dogs will be traversing the icy pond and fall in and get caught under the ice and drown. I called and called and she finally came dancing across the ice and got to the shore and came in. Her poor little pads were very cold and sore to touch, but she was thrilled with herself.

So....here at Honeysuckle Hill, we had a very atypical Saturday...lazy and homey and filled with love and cats and dogs. Short posting tonight as I am very ready for bed (did NOT sleep well last night, tossed and turned all night. I thought about doing laundry and a myriad of other things, but I didn't. Just laid around and loved me some pups and loved that big old man of mine.

Goodnight all...I'm heading for Dreamland....

Namaste.

RIP, Etta James...

2012-01-20T20:06:00.000-08:00

When I am silent,

I fall into the place where everything is music...

~~Rumi

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Another loss in the music world...fly, Etta....you will be missed....

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Ah...winter has descended on us with a vengeance. The Irishman and I went to Litchfield for a late lunch and then a matinee. We ate sushi at the Chinese buffet and then moseyed on over to see We Bought A Zoo with Matt Damon. It was a great movie and full of laughter and tears and beauty--as a movie should be.

We came out of the theater to find that an ice storm had happened and we slipped and slid to the car and were (luckily) able to get the doors unlocked. We sat in the parking lot for over half an hour waiting for the windshield to defrost enough so that the Irishman could scrape it. The 22 mile drive home went at a snails pace...no where could we travel more than 25 mph. Our road was of course the worst....and that's where I nearly lost control of the car twice sliding into the ditch and me doing everything I could to keep that from happening. (BTW--the Irishman was very impressed with my skill. lol) You know the drill...turning INTO the slide, then turning out of it when it started sliding the other direction. I pulled it down into first gear for the remainder of the road and crawled down the hill and then up the hill into our driveway. I can't tell you how relieved I was to be home!!!

It's warmed up to 21 now...and there's no more forecast after midnight tonight.

I wound up not going to bed until after 3:30 AM last night/morning. I didn't get up until 10:30 this morning...but I felt better. Thanks everyone for your kind remarks yesterday...and I know that I have always been guilty of being a do-er and staying ridiculously busy to avoid things of an emotional/moody nature. Maybe it's a good thing, maybe it's a bad thing...maybe everybody gets to find their own way of dealing with life on life's terms. I always kind of operated on the premise that if you go fast enough, the s**t storm can't catch you. lol

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I have connected with an old junior high school friend on Facebook. I've thought about her a gazillion times over the years, wondering what she was doing, where she was living...you know--regular stuff. Because I moved away from here and was gone for over thirty years, I have few connections with anyone. One friend from high school, Cathy, hunted me down and we see each other for lunch now and again. At the end of the 9th grade my parents moved us out to the country and I started a different school district and I never saw my friends Randi or Joan again. Randi is a school teacher (I always thought she would be). I thought I would be a teacher too, for years. But it never happened. While she was graduating and going to college, I was running off and living in the Rocky Mountains, and then on to California...having the adventures of a lifetime... But we were girls of the 60's and she and I were a lot alike in the way we thought and looked at the world. Little hippies in training. lol We are emailing and I hope I get the chance to meet up with her someday soon.

Life is funny...the way it dips and dives and curls around your feet. The way the years rush by at a maddening pace and you don't know where they went or why things happened the way they did and what if?? Always what if?? Sigh....

Just for today, I am grateful to have lived the life I've had. I've been places and seen things and done things that I never would have guessed. I've known people and I've loved and I've lost and I've loved again. I've stood at 3 different ocean's shores and been humbled. I've been at the top of the Andes at Macchu Picchu and been blown AWAY. I've climbed Diamond Head in Hawaii and I've sat at the top of Pike's Peak and watched the little hail and lightning coming down around me like a movie. I've walked through San Francisco China Town and I've been in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County and seen the way the Amish live. I've stood at the southernmost tip of the United States and looked at Cuba. I've driven through Idaho's Hells Canyon on the Snake River and I've visited the Outer Banks on the eastern coast of the Carolinas. I have snow camped in Yosemite and been face to face with a grizzly bear. I have seen up close and personal the beautiful waterfalls and Half Dome and all the things that Ansel Adams brought to us through the lens of his camera. I have been to Canada and I have been to Mexico and I have played naked and pregnant in a field of wildflowers. I have helped people learn to read and write, I have sat with friends until the last breath escaped their bodies, and I have helped bring puppies into the world. I have grown my own food and I have learned to survive on almost no money or assistance, and I have danced until the sun came up. I have listened to music that made me cry and I have looked at art that has touched my heart in places I didn't know existed.

There are a lot of things I could have done differently in my life that would have made for a more...comfortable retirement, more respectable history. lol But I have lived this life of mine with GUSTO, baby. I have wrung out of it every ounce of pleasure and beauty I could find. And I don't regret one single minute of it. If I die tomorrow, I can only say thank you--it's been a helluva ride.

Namaste.

A strange day...

2012-01-19T23:51:00.000-08:00

It started out strange and it got stranger still in the middle, and now it's ending up...well, strange.

I woke up tired. I was up at the butt crack of dawn, thanks to sundry and assorted animals whining and meowing and squawking. I stayed up and cleaned the kitchen and came in and got on the computer. I was out of sorts from the minute I came out of the bedroom. I cleaned up 2 pee spots and had to fill the dry-as-a-bone water dish in the kitchen, before cleaning up the dishes from his majesty's breakfast. The toaster was out, the butter was out...oh, YOU know.

And it just was downhill from there.

At about 10 AM, I decided to watch television. It was so cold today, about 17, that the dogs didn't want to stay out for very long, so they were in and out, in and out. I watched a very good movie starring Timothy Hutton called Multiple Sarcasms...all about a guy who is married and has a child and is an architect...wakes up one day and realizes he hates his life. See it if you can find it...it was good. When it was over there was nothing for me to do but go back to bed. I had nothing on my agenda except a 4 PM appointment at the vets office for Molly to get her shots. I was in bed at noon and slept until after 2:30. I got up and got dressed and took the dog to the vet (60 miles round trip). The 4 o'clock appointment got hijacked by a woman with a very sick cat, who took up WAY more than her allotted time slot. The vet didn't see us until almost 4:45. I spent that time walking the JRT (Jack Russell Terrorist) around the building, through the rooms where the feed and supplies are stored, --basically anywhere to keep her away from the other dogs in the waiting room. She was actually being good, for the most part, but she really cannot be trusted. Plus, there were 3 little yapper/Yorkie kinds of dogs, which are way too tempting for her. It was after 5 by the time we finished and we lit out of there like our ass was on fire. I still had to stop by the market before getting home to make supper for the Irishman. Vegetarian meal night and I had no idea what I was going to do.

We made it home with no vomiting or too much of anything extreme happening, except that the dog was whining and wanted me to pet her constantly the whole way home. Not easy keeping your hand on a dog while you drive through rush hour traffic. (OK--rush hour traffic might be a bit of an exaggeration for Litchfield, IL...but people were going home from work....)

I came home and made big fluffy vegetable omelets for supper with a nice mixed green salad on the side. A little raspberry walnut vinaigrette dressing and we were in business. Then, about an hour after we ate, I went back in the kitchen and cleaned up. Then I made big soft buttermilk sweet biscuits to use for peach shortcakes for dessert. Opened a jar of home canned peaches and dumped them on the warm biscuits and topped with whipped cream. It was delicious.

We watched tv for about 3 and a half hours...too long for my old crippled body to sit in one place. My back aches and my shoulders are tight and my neck is getting stiff again. (BTW--3 or 4 days ago, I had a BAD stiff neck and shoulders for several days running...husband had to rub me down every night. Then there was an earthquake about 50 miles from here in a St. Jacob. It was small, as 'quakes go...only a 2.5. But when it was over, the neck and shoulder pain went away. This is what happens to me when there is a change in the earth's magnetic field, I think.) Anyway, I'm stiffening up and wondering today if I should see about getting checked for RA...my joints and bones hurt all the time it seems like.

And now, here I am. A group of people I know and have gotten together with and had out to my house on numerous occasions...are all together down in Key West. And I couldn't go. And I am feeling sorry for myself tonight. And lonely. And in a mood. And I hate when I get like this, because it colors everything. The shit that starts running through my head is poisonous and deceptive and irrational. And I feel like that little girl from the wrong side of town that nobody picked for teams and never fit in and always did and said all the wrong things. The one that never had the right clothes and never had the right toys and could never quite stack up. Never tall enough, or smart enough or good enough. And I think nobody cares if I got to go to Key West or not and my one friend here doesn't really care about being my friend enough to even call before she leaves town for 3 months. And I don't know how this happens. That I can go from 0 to 60 in a few short hours and suddenly nothing in my life is right. And I sit here and tears trickle down my face and I wish things were different.

Boo Hoo. I can almost hear a whispering "This too shall pass". I know that I need to be a little more compassionate and honest with myself about some things. I am tired and my body hurts and the cold makes it even worse. Living with chronic pain is no picnic. Ten and a half years ago my whole world shifted. You'd think I'd be used to it by now.

Tomorrow is a new day and things will probably look a lot better. Being in this place is a hard thing for an optimist. Pollyannas like me have a worse time with fleeting depression than you'd think. And maybe it isn't even depression--maybe I'm just sad. Or tired. Or not spending enough time in a grateful spiritual practice.

When I do take the time to look for the things I have to be grateful for, and not spend so much time cursing all the things I DON'T have...I am a pretty happy girl. Feeling sorry for myself is like sitting in a pool of ICK...I don't like the way it feels and the longer I sit in it, the harder it is to get out of it. There was a time when I used drugs and alcohol to change the way I felt at the drop of a hat. These days, I have to sit with it and feel it and watch it walk on through. I have to deliberately live my life in a manner that creates an attitude of gratitude...if I want to be happy. It's not hard.

But today has been a strange day and it feels as though the planets are in retrograde, or my neurons aren't firing in the correct order. And I am powerless to stop the backwards regression of my otherwise sunny personality. LOL So off to bed I will go. Sleep, hopefully, will put me out of harms way and cause this nasty mind of mine to stop the torment for a few hours. And when I wake up to another cold morning, full of love and critters and aches and pains....maybe I'll be able to see things through a different pair of glasses.

Or maybe I'll just pull the quilts up over my head and refuse to come out.

Namaste.

New Look For A New Year? We'll see...

2012-01-18T22:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay...I know we are already wayyy into the new year, but it's only today that I played with the look of this bad boy. I don't know if I like it or not.

Been a quiet morning here at Honeysuckle Hill. Warmed up enough finally for the dogs to go out. 17 when I got up and about 25 now. And sunny. With blue skies.

So, the sick plot thickens...now, not only have my brother, his daughter, my sister-in-law been sick, but about 9 more people for sure that were all at the Memorial Service for my aunt have turned up sick too. All within hours of the service..all with the same crazy symptoms. Diarrhea, vomiting, chills...very flu-like, yet not. My SIL came up with the idea of a Norovirus from the restaurant, but over half the sick people didn't eat there. My brother and I and my other brothers wife who did are the only 3 of our group not sick. It must have been someone who came through the service, hugging and kissing everyone. I was probably the least social of the group. lol Anyway, keeping my fingers crossed that I don't come down with anything...eating extra kimchi and taking my vitamins.

I found a small package of 2 or 3 chicken breasts (boneless/skinless) in the freezer, and am trying to decide what kind of simple supper to make with them. Thinking maybe a kind of a primevera pasta dish, with egg noodles maybe? I've only got an hour and a half before I have to leave, and still need to take a shower too...so I'd better get on the ball.

I came on to see if I'd be able to get on the computer today....wasn't sure what the big guys were doing exactly. Mozilla is one of the ones taking part in the blackout. Whatever that meanhs. lol

The stew turned out good...the Irishman loved it, even if he did get a mouthful of peanut butter that wasn't quite dissolved completely. lol It surprised him more than anything...It was seriously filling and satisfying...

I'm not sure why I'm posting here today...I really don't have anything to say, and there's not much happening here on the old home place. The chickens are out happily scratching the dirt, the pond is frozen over, the skies are blue. The dogs are out front laying around in the sun,. and little Roxie is here in the office, lying in a pool of sunlight. I'm thinking that in my next life, I want to be a dog...sleeping and playing, eating and pooping...and doing it all over again. No responsibilities, no worries...just a good quiet life. Get plenty of pets and snuggle up to someone when it's cold. Be amazed by everything, every day. Love unconditionally. Lie right on top of the heater vent on the floor if you feel a little chilly. lol

Maybe I'll finish this tonight.....later, taters...

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Okay, so it's later...much later. After midnight actually. The chicken breasts (2) turned out to be sweet and sour chicken that went over the top of the leftover brown rice. It was magnificent, if I do say so myself. Simple, with only a few carrots, and onions and multi-colored bell peppers in it. And pineapple, of course. And Chinese 5 Spice and ground ginger, and soy sauce. And celery seed. LOL But you can trust me when I tell you it was as good as any I've made.

I am tired tonight, the end of my week, and am so looking forward to being home. I do have to take Miss Molly the Jack Russell Terrorist to the vet tomorrow at 4, but that's okay. It's time for vaccines again. But the whole rest of the day is mine...woohoo! It amazes me that I used to work 65-75 hours a week for years and it never fazed me...I must be all used up. Getting old ain't for sissies, as my buddy used to always say....he was right.

Going off to meet the Sandman now...sending sweet dreams your way too....

Namaste.

A Tenacious Tuesday

2012-01-17T11:23:00.000-08:00

...it's noon. I am still in my pajamas. The world has not ended. (Yet.) lol

And just in case you were worried...

I have been (no, not curled up in a fetal position on the couch), but in the kitchen...scrubbing and chopping and olive-oiling a butt load of vegetables for the making of a grand stew for supper. These are getting ready to go into the oven for a light roasting, to bring out the sweetness. It's a melee of carrots and turnips, and onions and garlic, and sweet potatoes and celery and parsnips. Most things from my garden, a few things not. I also have this going on, on top of the stove:

My favorite cast iron skillet full of my favorite vegetable...braised Brussels sprouts. They will go into the stew as well. At the end. If I don't eat them all first. I just cut those little babies in half and put them cut side down in the skillet of hot oil. O.M.G. They are so good, topped with a little sea salt and cracked black pepper. I will cook a pot of brown rice and serve the stew over that, and it will be a yummy, comforting meal on a cold winter night. The stew will also have a spoonful or three of organic peanut butter in it, pushing the protein up a little more. And lulling our taste buds into Nirvana.

My house smells so good...I cannot tell you. Yesterdays high temps of 70 degrees have come to a crashing halt. A gigantic thunderstorm last night brought in a cold front and it was 37 when I got up and has dropped at least 5 more degrees now. Maybe more. We are supposed to get snow by Thursday. It was a serious storm, with tornadic winds and blasting rain and lightning like you can't believe. It woke me up from a dead sleep about 1 AM and I ran here to unplug the computer and my phone. :)

I smell veggies starting to toast...better go check....Mmmm...time for stirring. They are just about done,.

I got out the new rice cooker (remember?? The one the Irishman got at their company Christmas party??) It's big- a 16 cup cooker. And I just opened the box for the first tie and it is a steamer as well! Very cool. I washed it all up real quick and will get the rice going here in a minute. Then I will head for the shower, as I have to leave for MissB's by 2:30.

It's cold and blustery and the dogs have all gone in and out and in and out. They don't want to stay out too long...not even little Caylee the snow dog. She says snow is one thing, but this bone chilling cold is something else entirely. lol Even the chicken, who were dying to get out of the coop, have gone back in. I wish I could just stay here in my little coop today too...but...today and tomorrow and then I can stay home for 2 days in a row. And not even get dressed at ALL, if I don't want to. lol

I will put the recipe for this stew on my food blog, once it's all done and I have pictures of the finished product. It's really satisfying meatless meal...and we're trying to do that at least 3 times a week. As well as eat out of our pantry. I do need to stop at the market for toilet paper and butter, lol...but other than that I haven't bought anything in about 2 weeks. (Can that be right??) goody.

If I had more time, I would make a loaf of artisan bread to go with this...sheesh....why didn't I think of that this morning?? lol

A quick FYI--my nephew (thank you all for your loving thoughts and prayers) is doing well...had another surgery on the lung and they siphoned a lot of fluid off the other one. He is off the ventilator, I think, and is trying to talk and has kissed his sweet wife. The cat scan looked good and the other things are healing up nicely. Again--thank you from the bottom of my heart for your thoughtfulness.

Namaste.

A beautiful sunny day...

2012-01-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

...on the heels of bitter cold and snow. We are down to icy sludge mostly now, although our yard is always one of the last ones to see the snow melt away. The hill in front of our driveway is still a little treacherous, but it will be cleared by today if the temps reach close to 50 like they're saying.

A little sunshine goes a long way. lol

Been a long week. I got home Friday evening, after making the trip down to the memorial service for my aunt and my niece's birthday too. I got her her first "real" jewelry box (i.e. NOT one with Hello Kitty on it) and a pair of birthstone earrings (garnet) that are dragonflies. She loves dragonflies. After all, she IS 9 now....lol

It was a bittersweet trip...a blessing to see so many of my aunt's friends turn out to say their goodbyes, and a lot of family members as well. I was taken aback by the sudden (to me) descent of one of my aunts into Altzheimers..she couldn't think of who I was...and it broke my heart, watching her struggle, trying to pull something up out of her memory. Something in me hated that it was me she couldn't remember, and not either one of my brothers sitting next to me. On a brighter note, they had several picture boards and I got to see some great pictures of my parents and all the brothers and sisters of my dad's family, and most of them I hadn't seen before. Pictures of the 3 sisters as cheerleaders at their high school...must have been in the 40's. A picture of my uncle Will in his paratrooper uniform, right before he was shot down and killed in WWII. A picture of my grandmother and her brother as children, that no one but me seemed to know who they were, or had seen that picture before. (I have that picture too). All in all, a wonderful trip down memory lane.

The snow came later there than it did here and we drove into the worst of it on the way to the funeral home. But it all worked out okay, and I went to dinner with my brothers and their wives after the service. That was nice. I forget sometimes how funny my brothers are...The next day, I stayed at my youngest brothers for most of the day and decided to leave in the afternoon so I wouldn't have to drive too much in the dark,. They were predicting a little more snow, and I thought better safe than sorry. It was a pleasant and uneventful trip, both ways.

My nephew is holding his own. They had a big blood drive in Florida yesterday to help repay the blood bank for all the 15 pints he was given and I guess they had a great turnout. He is waking up and he kissed his wife when she asked him to. He is on a lot of pain medication still, so a bit wonky, but the other drugs they were using to keep him fully sedated are gone, so that's a big deal. I haven't heard a word from my own sister about anything since the first day it happened, so it's a good thing I can keep in touch with my niece. This is nothing new on her part. She said she would stay in touch and she didn't and that's pretty much par for the course. She is how she is and that's all I can say about it all. I tell myself it's a tough time and it is..but she calls others and talks to them, so....nothing new under the sun, as they say.

I made the Irishman a big breakfast this morning of Denver omelets and fresh fruit and biscuits. He has a District Meeting today (he is now DCM--a promotion from Alt. DCM when the regular guy had to have his work schedule changed). His home group meeting ends 2 hours before the District meeting, so he won't drive all the way back home, and I won't see him again until after 8 tonight when I get home. Sooo...it's just me and the critters here lazing around the house.

This place is such a mess, I almost need to hire help to get it cleaned up. (Or get off the computer and get busy). Nawww.... lol I am going to do some stuff today, but not kill myself with it. I have some laundry to do that I might start. And maybe run the vacuum...just to freak out the dogs. lol Then tomorrow I could take the vacuum to the shop, because it is not running right...it's not the motor, but the rolling wheels or something. It likes to hang up on the carpet...and the whole thing needs a tune-up and a cleaning.

The weather is doing a crazy upswing and supposed to be back in the fifties tomorrow. (Shaking her head...) This is just so wrong....

I can't find a suitable picture for the blog this morning, and I guess if that's as bad as it gets, I'm gonna have a good day. lol Nothing just seems right, so I guess I'll go back through and look again...

Hope everyone has a peaceful Sunday.

That's MY plan....

Namaste.

Tickled PINK...

2012-01-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

May I get a drum roll...please ???? Here she is... the Apple iPhone 3 GS...not the Cadillac model that # 4 is maybe, but nonetheless....I purchased her this morning for the outrageous price of NINETY NINE CENTS, people. Of course, I had to re-sell my soul to AT&T, but still... lol

I did actually answer a call today on it and send a text message. It's a start.

It has a weather app that follows me wherever I am and tells the temperatures there. Detailed weather reports too. It has google maps and mapquest and facebook and emails and games and a camera and ...lions and tigers and bears, O,MY!! It has iTunes and Youtube,and clocks and calendars and newspapers and magazines and videos. Can you bake a cherry pie?, Billy Boy, Billy Boy ??? Can you bake a cherry pie, charming Billy?? It can keep me from getting lost, it can keep me from getting lonely...it can help me remember, it can help me forget.

And I feel like a fookin' eejit with it. I always said I would never have one of these...but then, I said I'd never have a dvd player either. lol It's going to take a while to learn all the stuff, I know. And I will probably grow to love it.

Maybe.

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All in all it was an interesting day. I rushed down to the store in a city about 35 minutes from here around 9:30 and got there just after they opened. I flounced through the double doors and said, dramatically,..."Hello boys!! Grandma's here !!! They all laughed and the young man who took care of me (Aaron) was a doll. He patiently explained everything to me and a couple of times I had to interrupt and say--hey, sonny--I was born in 1953, not 1853...

Come on, now.

All in all, it was a good experience there and they were extremely helpful and I came home with a $375.00 phone that cost me .99 (How the heck can they POSSIBLY do that?????) And I'm really tickled to use it and start figuring it all out. I kept the boys laughing and a stranger came up and asked me if I liked Texas Roadhouse. I said, sure..and he gave me a card for a free appetizer. I don't know who he was, an owner maybe...looked too old to be management. And then Miss Roxie and I came home.

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I made a big skillet of bbq'd ribs for the Irishman for supper, with quinoa and a skillet of sauteed cabbage with shredded carrots and chives in it. It was awesome.

Tomorrow I will make a pot of chili and some kind of a casserole so he'll have easy food while I'm gone. I also want to make him a couple of veggie burritos for Thursday after work...I won't be here, and he has a class, so needs some mobile food to go with him.

Heck. I might even bake him a pie...I think I have an unbaked pumpkin one in the freezer, as well as an apple. That would be easy enough. I have been invited over to my neighbors for breakfast in the morning and then need to pick up some pay and come home and get this house cleaned. I haven't really done a darned thing for several days...I'm pretty sure that if you looked under my dining room table, you find enough dog hair to build a Sheltie or two. I do have the laundry all done and caught up. I need to pack and figure some things out and get ready for the southward trek. I paid all the critical bills this afternoon.

Geez. I may actually be able to do this with a minimum of discomfort and madness. LOL

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Well, I am tired and have to get up early for breakfast at the neighbors (8:30). Time to see about a little shuteye, and dream of Steve Jobs and Apples and confront my nightmares of being adrift in a sea of technology.

Wish me luck.

Namaste.

You don't bring me flowers....any.... more....

2012-01-08T23:14:00.000-08:00

Remember that song? I think about it when I think of the movie The Way We Were, with Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford. I was pretty young when that movie came out, 1973. The song itself was actually recorded in 1978, 5 years later. But those years are all a bit fuzzy and glopped together in my mind...maybe that's why. lol

Anyway...I thought of it today when my darling husband brought me a dozen long stemmed roses. Just because. Now, don't ask me why I thought "you don't bring me flowers" when he does and did today bring me flowers, because if I think too hard about it, my head might explode.

Hard to get a good picture of them...the vase and roses are so long...and it's after midnight and the light is bad.

But I was so touched by this amazing man I love....when I said hey--my birthdays over, he said--they're not for your birthday. They're just...for you. Just because.

A lot of the time, these days, I think I must be living someone else's life.

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So it was chilly today, still warm for January, but not 70. LOL The sky was sunny off again, on again. I took Miss Roxie to the park when I went into town to go to the market. Thankfully, it was on again then. I went to get some lettuce and tangerines for a big salad I was making us for lunch, as I didn't have enough romaine and hoped to get more, but alas, all they had was iceberg. So...I only got tangerines. I fleshed out the salad with baby kale from the garden and it was awesome.

I didn't take a picture of that gorgeous thing, but it was made of romaine and baby kale, frozen chives from the garden, reconstituted dried radishes and carrots (FTG), sunflower seeds, dried cranberries (yup--I dried 'em), tangerine segments, pecans, and chunks of chilled chicken. Dressed with a poppyseed dressing, it was magnificent! I woke up this morning, hungry for salad. It made a great lunch and I took some with me to MissB's for my supper too. Then we had a slice of cheesecake with fresh frozen raspberries from back in August.

All in all, a meal fit for royalty.

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I have a busy week ahead and have laundry going right now to try to stay on top of things. Tomorrow I am driving 45 minutes south to meet my sister-in-law for lunch. She's taking me to Olive Garden where we will probably pig out on their soup, salad and bread sticks. If we don't succumb to something really decadent, like the portabello mushroom raviolis with the smoked cheddar sauce. Or something equally rich and wonderful. LOL On Tuesday I have a dr appointment and on Wednesday I am taking off work to go down to my cousins old home for the Memorial service which will be held on Thursday for my aunt. I'll stay the night with my brother down there and celebrate my darling niece's birthday that night and Friday. I have a massage scheduled for Thursday that I am going to call tomorrow and reschedule [hopefully] for Wednesday morning. Then sometime Friday night I will head back home to my fur babies and that adorable Irishman of mine. He's going to stay home and caretake the critters. Then I have a sponsling coming out on Saturday morning to start some step work. Then it's back to work on Saturday afternoon.

Man. I'm tired just typing that. Somewhere Tuesday-Wednesday I have to try to get this house cleaned up a little. If I don't it will be a disaster by the time I get back. Also need to get some kind of food made for this man to eat while I'm gone. Maybe a casserole and a pot of some chili. That should take care of him. Not that he can't cook for himself....because he can. I have just gotten him so spoiled that he doesn't.

I need a wife. lol

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I have some bills to pay too and get in the mail tomorrow...most of them I pay online, or EFT, but there are a couple of floaters out there that I have to actually write checks for. And use STAMPS on. lordy...it's like the dark ages. lol

I am going to buy a new phone this week. It's time for an upgrade and I have decided to step out of the cave and buy an iphone. I have dug my heels in and refused to do it for the past few years, but I think the time has come. I can get the phone for almost nothing and I think it's another 15 dollar/month charge for the internet service. I need to do a little more reading and make sure I have the facts right.

God--what's next??

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Alright my dears...I am going to hit the hay here in a bit. It's after 1 AM and I have been doing a pretty good job of not staying up so late all the time. The past few days I have been in the sack before midnight. I'm not sure I really feel any better, but I have got to do something about this sleeping thing.

I am hurting pretty bad tonight. When Roxie and I went to the park, we walked the perimeter of the place all the way around without stopping to sit once! (That may not sound like much to you, but for me it is. Between this bum knee and my general bone damage, it's a deal.) I want to try to walk her there at least five days a week as part of my new and improved rehabilitation/physical exercise routine. I have a set of Zunba dvd's that I want to use, but my body is not quite ready yet. Soon...

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Adios, friends. Until tomorrow....

Namaste.

Post Birthday Bliss...

2012-01-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

I just want to know one thing. If there can be 12 days of Christmas...why can't there be 12 days of birthday?

I'm here to tell you..THERE CAN BE !!!!!

And today is Day 2. (or 3, if I start the day before my birthday) Doesn't matter. Once again, it's something I'm going to do until I don't want to do it anymore. (The story of my life). lol

It was a wonderful Epiphany. I got up and the Irishman made my breakfast. Then he drove me to town for my 10:30 massage appointment. After I was completely rubbed and squeezed into ecstatic submission, I wandered down the stairs to find him at the desk, chatting up my masseuse. Turns out he had not only paid for my massage, but paid for the next one too. What a guy, huh?

Afterwards we went to the Dead Lobster (my affectionate nickname for the restaurant) for a shrimp-y lunch, which we enjoyed immensely. Then it was back home to rest up and get ready to make the pilgrimage to the veterinarians office. The Honey Badger had to get her post-bite exam and be micro chipped and we also used the opportunity to get Miss Caylee rustled in for a rabies shot. This is no mean feat. She HATES riding in the car and was terrified, but the Irishman was able to manage her and we got there and back and everything was fine. Thing is, every time she gets in the car it's because of trauma and so she has connected those two things. We try and try to get her in the car to go to the park like the other dogs love to do, but he will not. Anyway, it's over for another year.

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now then. Dear Kristen, from Jilli Java, has sweetly awarded me an award.

I am supposed to award it to 3 people whose blogs I read and then tell you 7 obscure facts about myself. I want to acknowledge Jozien at Keeper of Wild Places, for always giving me another magnificent way to look at the world around us. Her writing, her art...she is wonderful. Then there is Linda at Hello,It's Me. She's really something--talented, intuitve and inspires me more than she'll ever know. And last, but not least, is the ubiquitous Rubye Jack (aka Linda) at Blue Skies, Sunny Days. We are sisters under the skin and she opens new doors for me every time I read her blog. I am blessed by all 3 of these women...as well as many more, but I only get to pick 3 here. LOL

Okay. 7 obscure facts about me. (This could be harder than it sounds, as my life is an open book). (Which only means I am a blabbermouth). lol

1) I am an earthquake "sensitive". Preceding earthquakes (sometimes for up to a week before, depending on the magnitude) I experience physical symptoms: frozen neck muscles, headaches,stiff neck and a low hum in my ears.

2) I am a conspiracy theorist, and instead of getting better, I only get worse, as the world gets smaller.

3) I have a good singing voice, even though my regular voice sounds like one of those old lady gin-voices.

4) I have an amazing ability to BS my way into, out of and through almost anything.

5) I have never had an earache. In my whole life.

6) I have an ultra-keen sense of smell.

7) I was in South America when the Jim Jones Massacre happened. Whatever year that was. I was in a

drunken, drug crazed whirlwind and it's a miracle I lived long enough to get clean and sober.

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So, there you have it.

I have some things to do before it suddenly turns into noon (half an hour from now) and I'd better get crackin' !!

Later, Taters...

Namaste.

Big wheel, keep on turnin'....

2012-01-05T09:49:00.000-08:00

Ah-la...(as Mz Moon would say).

My aunt passed away relatively peacefully yesterday early evening. They went to get her up for supper time and she was dead. They had started giving her doses of morphine for the pain in her back (?) and trying to keep her comfortable, and I suspect that may have been the little push she needed to let go and pass over to the next great adventure. That's what I'd like to think, anyway.

She wanted to be cremated, so there will probably be a memorial service in the next week or so. I haven't talked to my cousin yet today.

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It's a beautiful day here at Honeysuckle Hill. Supposed to get close to 60 today and it's sunny and the skies are blue and here I sit. lol I do have some things done and some more things to do, but I decided to start celebrating my birthday a day early and just run it on for a couple of days. Why not? It's probably a miracle I have lived this long. And miracles need celebrating.

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My nephew is doing well...slight fever (expected) , and they are weaning him off the ventilator. He keeps trying to wake up, and they have apparently restrained him, because he keeps trying to pull out all his tubes. Spoke with my sister today and she cried a bit off and on, something I don't think she allows herself to do much. She said he has pancreas damage from all the drinking and I said yea, I wasn't surprised and that she hoped God could get through to him and make him understand he needs to change his lifestyle. She's very upset with his wife and I tried to gently remind her that she's only his mother now, and that wife trumps mother. It's an old story. If only it were that easy...that an unfortunate accident could make drinkers stop drinking. It rarely happens that way, but I guess sometimes it does and maybe this could be one of those times. It scares me too, the way these kids drink. Just like I'm sure it scared our parents and their parents before them.

I guess I keep coming back to the fact that there's just SO much more information out there now...when I was a kid, everybody thought it couldn't hurt you, and now we know better. But I'm sure that the base troubles that lead us to wanting to get lost in the haze of alcohol are still there and still the same.

And so it goes....

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On a lighter note, I am going to make veggie burgers and sweet potato fries for supper. I have a small list of things that need attending to, like my vacuum cleaner needs to go in the shop. I need to call the vet and see if we can bring another dog along to our appointment tomorrow who needs just a rabies shot. I need to call the local witch doctor and see if they are still doing ear candling...I am having an issue with itchy way down deep ears and some possible hearing loss. (OR--I'm just not paying attention.) :) They are right here in town. I had it done about 4 years ago, I think, and it was a good thing. I want to take the vacuum cleaner tomorrow and leave it over the weekend. Which means I need to vacuum before I take it.

One thing's for sure...I have job security. LOL

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I'm trying to do a better job of blogging in 2012...have you noticed? Quantity, if not quality. Yay, me.

Off to cook, to clean , to call. Have a great Thursday , all ya'all...

May all your days be sunny and bright....

Namaste.

A blessed Wednesday...

2012-01-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhh...deep breaths.. life isn't about the breaths we take, it's the moments that take our breath away...

My nephew is out of surgery and they closed him up and said he should make a full recovery. It will be slow, but it will be blessed, I am sure, by the outpouring of love that envelopes him. And for this, I am grateful.

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I have just started some spaghetti sauce and will leave a nice pot of basketti (as my son used to call it) on the stove for my dear husband's supper. He's pretty much been feeding himself at least 2 or 3 days a week...on leftovers or whatever he finds to fix easily. I like to have something waiting for him when I can, as he works 10 hour days and gets home around 6 PM. I have some rolls in the freezer that'll bake and then he can just heat up to go with it. I don't have any greens in the house for a salad, or I'd make that too. lol He won't care. The pasta will hit the spot with him...he's a carb junkie.

With all the craziness of the holidays, there's been a lot of times that I just haven't had the time or energy to do much. Plus we've had plenty of leftovers. The fridge is actually starting to look a little bare, FINALLY! lol

I am using home canned tomatoes, homegrown frozen bell peppers, homegrown onions and garlic...yum.

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One thing I always get a kick out of is when I open a jar or a freezer bag of something I've preserved and see the date and remember the harvest. This morning it was 7/11/11 on the jar of tomatoes. July. Mmmm...something really nice about remembering July in the month of January. Even though it's 45 degrees today and not like January usually is around these parts. And my first thought was --WOW. That was 6 months ago already! yikes... I was pulling some of the older kale leaves for the chickens yesterday and thinking, as I looked around the beds all heaped with dead leaves, "It won't be long before we'll be out here turning the composted stuff under, watching the grass green up again and planting seeds...waiting for that miracle of faith...the one where you just know in your heart that the seeds will sprout and be true to their origins. THIS is true faith. It's that simple. To me, anyway.

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The sauce must need stirring...I'm starting to smell the tomatoe-y goodness.

I'm going through some winter doldrums, like I hear from a lot of people. I don't like it. lol I'm sure it's a combination of things...like bad eating around the holidays, not enough sunlight, and not enough exercise. Top that with the family emergency stuff and you've got a perfect recipe for the blahs. I hate the feelings of powerlessness that surround me when things are happening to other people, and I cannot do a thing about it. It used to be worse...at least now I can pray. But I still have moments of ...I don't even know what it is.

I think I'm going to try staying off the computer so much too...I come in here in the morning and before I know it, it's noon. And time for me to get ready to leave. I have so many connections to people, both in blogland and email land that it takes me hours to stay caught up. Maybe if I wait until the evenings to check in.... lol It's kinda ridiculous, when you think about it. I was thinking the other day about how I try to EAT locally..maybe I should try socializing more locally too. But...I probably won't. LOL It's hard to shrink your world once you've been on the information superhighway. (Do they even call it that anymore??)

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The deforesting tree cutters are back again. Our road looks like hell...and I understand that the branches need to be cut back away from the lines, but did they have to cut down the little kumquat tree inside my fence line? It was nowhere near the lines. I am really distressed about all this, and my husband says to just let it go, they will mostly grow back. But I can't seem to. I am (in my head as of now) composing a scathing letter to the electric company regarding all this. It hurts my heart, like the clearcutting that I saw in Northern California of the redwoods. It seems to me that it is so unnecessary. In our 7 years on this road, there was 1 time that a tree came down on a power line. ONCE. It does not require this kind of careless and unconscious devastation.

And that's all I'm saying for now about THAT.

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Okay. I need to shower and get ready to cook pasta and straighten up my house a little. I was going to try to get my car vacuumed, but that ain't gonna happen this morning. I am grateful to be able to live the life I live. Grateful that I can cook and eat foods that I have [mostly] grown myself, grateful for all the love in my life, and grateful that on Friday I will turn 59 years old and still keep my sense of humor about it all. There were quite a few times in my life that I NEVER thought I would live this long, lol. (And if I'd known, I would have taken better care of myself....) (maybe) lol

Have a good Wednesday, everyone. We're sliding down into the weekend!!

Namaste.

The Human Condition...

2012-01-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

I am amazed at the outpouring of love on behalf of my nephew and family. It makes me truly inclined to believe in the good of humanity and that no matter how far we may sometimes wander off our path, we can always find our way back to our own humanness. This is not news. We see it happen every time there is a Katrina or a tornado like the one in Joplin. The earthquakes in Haiti, the famines in Africa...good hearted people doing whatever little thing they can to help another suffering human being.

I am getting emails and phone calls from people I haven't heard from in years, offering prayers and good wishes. They are organizing a blood drive down in Florida, friends and family of my nephew and his wife, as a pay-it-forward kind of thing. Jeremy had to have almost the entire blood volume of his body replaced. It saved his life. There are people offering up prayers and support from all over the world, thanks to the amazing Internet.

He went back in today for more surgery, but they couldn't do much...his pancreas is much more damaged than they originally thought and I guess the lung is too. So, they will wait a few more days, keeping him sedated and with no outside stimulation...they've barred visitors. It's frightening and tragic and damn....I cannot imagine what my sister and her daughter-in-law must be going through. It's hard to be so far away...

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We are having a cold snap (finally--at the beginning of January!!) Supposed to get down to 14 tonight and the wind has been atrocious. BUT--Thursday is supposed to be 60. It's crazy, I tell ya....

I am scattered all over the place. Made a chicken and rice casserole today for supper and served it with some sauteed cabbage and red onions. Yum...good comfort food for a cold windy day. I did a little house keeping and a little laundry and am about ready for bed, even though it's barely 11:30 PM. All the animals seem subdued as well, and Bella just came in and got into her crate and is asleep. lol I'm going to take that as a hint and go there myself.

The Irishman goes back to work tomorrow and I have nothing planned until time for MissB's in the middle of the afternoon. I can sleep in or get up early or do whatever I want. WooHoo! (I'm going to be in trouble when the time comes for him to retire, aren't I ??) lol Luckily he's young, and still has a bit of work left in him. lol

I have one cat outside that needs to come in. I'm thinking that if I just open the front door, she'll probably come flying in out of that 20 degrees out there. Hope so. I am not tracking her down. Not tonight.

Please take care, everyone. Tell your loved ones they're loved, make nice with the rest, and lets just set this world back on track again. Like some wise woman purportedly said: "Not every one can do great things. But everyone can do small things, with great love."

You all make my world a better place. Thank you.

Namaste.

And another year begins...

2012-01-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

Had a lovely, sane New Year's Eve here at Honeysuckle Hill...we even stayed up til almost 1:30, lol...toasting in the New Year with sparkling grape juice and a cheese and cracker plate and watching NCIS reruns (marathon) most of the evening. Got up this morning and made cinnamon rolls and eggs for breakfast and the Irishman is off to his usual Sunday Morning Meeting and I am here...doing some laundry, taking down the few Xmas decorations we have out and cleaning up. Decided I would take a minute to come in here and say good morning and start the year off right with a little blogging.

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Yesterday was a long and emotionally draining day for me, until I got home and sat in my sweetie's arms for a while. My aunt is dying, and my sister and I took the almost 3 hour trip up to see her. She's my dad's sister and I wanted to make sure to get up there at least once more before she departs this earth. On the way there, my brother called to tell me that our nephew was in a terrible motorcycle accident at 1 AM and was in critical condition in Florida. He was at a party and drinking and jumped on his friend's motorcycle and took it for a spin...no helmet, probably no license, and apparently the road curved and he didn't. He has massive injuries, ruptured spleen damaged pancreas, broken ribs, one of which punctured a lung. A small skull fracture. Broken collar bone. He bled out almost the entire body volume of blood...they were concerned about kidney damage, but now they think they are okay. They airlifted him to a big hospital where they pumped him full of new blood, did emergency surgery to remove the spleen and part of the pancreas. He is on a ventilator. It's a miracle that he is alive. It's a miracle there was no brain or spinal cord damage. They will do more surgery on Monday, my sister said when I talked to her last night, but the prognosis is good. He will have a long road to recovery, but he will make it.

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It was really hard to see this always vivacious, full of "piss and vinegar" aunt lying in that bed almost unresponsive. We stayed for quite a while, talking to her and we actually managed to get her to drink a little and I put her glasses on her and she smiled. She did try to talk to us some, but it was really hard to understand her and hard for her to do. She has developed Parkinsons and early Altzheimers (though I don't know how they can diagnose that at this stage). She is dehydrated and we kept pushing the water and a bottle of chocolate Boost nutritional drink on her and she took a bit. When her son got there, he was amazed--said this is not the woman who was in this bed yesterday. She actually waved at him when he came in the door...a little fluttery hand wave. My cousin is having a really hard time with this...as he lost his dad and sister in the same year about 2 years ago. And he was always a bit of a momma's boy, so that makes it even worse. I promised to come back up next Thursday (if she's still here) on my day off. He hugged me and cried and said thank you thank you so many times until I wanted to cry too. I know how hard this is..I went through it too. And I will do whatever I can to help him and support him and be there for my aunt.

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So...all in all, a sad and scary start to a new year, but also one that holds promise and hope. Getting some black eyed peas and hamhocks and greens and cornbread going for dinner..our traditional New Years Day fare. I started thinking about some "goals" (thank you, Leigh! lol) for 2012 and one of them is going to be looking towards a cleaner, meat-free diet. We have a freezer full of stuff and we'll use that all up first. (There'll be no wasting of food on HH). Then we'll decide just what direction we want to go. Probably not vegan, but surely a more vegetable and grain based diet. We'll keep our layers. We'll still use butter, probably. But a change is in the air, I can feel it. We don't really eat a LOT of meat, and almost no red meat, so this won't be difficult to institute, just a matter of changing some habits once again and going the extra mile to plan meals.

We also spent some time yesterday evening talking about things we want to do around here...some things that NEED doing and some things we WANT to do. We need to put them to paper so that they don't get forgotten or ignored in the shuffle.

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I hear the washing machine finishing the spin cycle and need to run the vacuum and clean this mess up before the Irishman gets back and we have to dine and then I'm off to MissB's.

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and send blessings of peace and prosperity to each and every one.

Namaste.

Another day in Paradise...

2011-12-29T09:45:00.000-08:00

Woke up to 40 degree temperatures at 8 AM...it's almost 50 now. Sheesh. 2 days ago, we had over 2 inches of snow. Today is all sunshine and blue skies.

This about sums it up, don't you think?

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I am going to the dr. with a friend today who has found a lump in her breast and is scared. She went for a mammo a few days ago and they wouldn't do it without the dr being there. Of course, now she is even more terrified than before. Sigh....I will go and hold her hand and pray for a good outcome...this is what friends do. And we will talk about not putting the cart before the horse and not making assumptions about any of it until we have the facts. And then, we will go from there. And I will be scared for her too, and for me and for all women who face this stuff each and every day. Thankfully, the detection rates and treatments for breast cancer are so much better than they used to be. Women the world over have done a much better job of self-examination and paying attention and getting treatment than ever before. Please keep us in your prayers, if you're inclined to do that sort of thing.

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I am (thankfully) off for a couple of days. I have an afternoon massage scheduled for tomorrow. I have no big plans for people or parties or even housecleaning. (Though, I may do a little straightening). lol I am tired and lazy and full to the brim with holidays and people. Time for a little quietude and reflection, as I am wont to do this time of year. The neighbors may or may not be having us over on New Years Eve or Day (lol)...all depending on the arrival and departure of their grown children. I will be happy to go or not go, as the case may be.

As you can see...I am slithering out of 2011 with a slovenly lurch.

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What does 2012 hold for us? Interesting to think about, but not obsess on. I've been thinking about it little. All the usual suspects...need to lose weight, change my diet a little (sugar), do a better job of saving money. Those things are probably on everyone's list. But what about the stuff that entails the real inside job stuff ?

I need to take more time for my spiritual life...prayer and meditation. I am, not the most disciplined person I know, that's for sure. My husband, on the other hand, does not miss his morning time, EVER. We could be in a flood with water rising up around his ankles and he'd still be in his zone....lol As for me--the dog farts and I'm up and running, looking for paper towels to clean up the mess. I've never learned to lock myself away from everyone and everything in order to have uninterrupted time. Couldn't do it when I was a young mother...still don't seem to be able to do it today. Is it a woman thing?? Are we always so "on" and alert to the world around us that we can't quite get to that place? Because we have to take care of our world around us in the home, whether it's animals or children or husbands...we are the ones who hear the scratching at the door, sense the small sounds of a sick child, smells the smell form the kitchen that no one else seems to notice? I don't know. The truth is that although those things used to be true for me, they're really not so much anymore. But I am undisciplined and untrained and unable to shut off the sounds around me. I guess the question really is: Am I too old, is it too late...for me to re-train myself? The answer is probably NO. But I am so lazy and tired and this sounds like an awful lot of work...even as I hammer it out on the keyboard.

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I guess I will decide if I'm making New Year's Resolutions or not before the dreaded day arrives. LOL Top this off with the fact that a week from tomorrow I will turn 59 years old, and I'm thinking it might be a too little too late kind of thing.

In the meantime, I will get moving, take a shower and go hold my friends hand. Then we will maybe get some lunch or coffee and talk and I will come home to where the Irishman will have gotten off work 2 hours earlier than usual so he can finish up his unused vacation time for the year. We will have a little supper and then I will traipse off to a womens meeting and share my experience, strength and hope with other women in recovery, who are trying to make sense of their lives too. I've been doing this circus act too, for 21 years and so they think I know something. I told one of them that "You can be an old-timer too someday, like me. Just don't drink, and don't DIE." And together we can do what we could never do alone.

Have a great Thursday afternoon, people. It's the last one you get this year !!

Namaste.

The morning after...

2011-12-26T08:31:00.000-08:00

Well...here we sit.

All the gaga is over, the fridge is bursting with leftovers of various and sundry sort...and the house is quiet.

My brother-in-law just left for Minnesota, heading back home, laden with gifts for the sisters who live there. Fed him a big bowl of oatmeal with walnuts and raisins and a couple of cups of good coffee, and he is on the road. Husbandman just took Molly, the Jack Russell Terrorist in the truck, where they will drive to the local reservoir and she can run until she drops. The house is a little disheveled, but nothing too bad. And right now I can hear the sound of a dog munching kibble and the furnace whirring in this 34 degree morning and all is right with the world.

We had a great Christmas. Nobody got too excited or upset about anything, we had a balanced weekend of activity and rest, of cooking and eating relatively healthy foods, and so much love and laughter that it almost makes me cry to think about it. It as just GOOD, darn it. :)

The Irishman still has today off and goes in to work tomorrow. I go back to MissB's this afternoon around 3. I will try to clean up a little and maybe slice that turkey breast I cooked last night. We ate ham for supper, with sweet potatoes from the garden and a big pot of green beans with onions and garlic. Nobody goes hungry around this house. lol

There's still an apple pie sitting on the island in the kitchen, someone brought it for the party on Friday. Himself can take it to work tomorrow..the guys will eat it. Maybe the leftover cookies too.

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There's always something so anticlimactic about the end of the holiday week. Or is it just tranquil? lol I got the cooling racks I wanted as gifts, along with a couple of books, from the Irishman. His brother gave me an Advent Calendar and a 21 year Minnesota AA coin. (lol--I think he thought we didn't have those here--but I appreciate the thought). My kids got me coffee syrups (vanilla, hazelnut and peppermint), a pair of penguin pajamas and a box of chai tea latte mix. It was a wonderful time, all in all. And now I just want to go snuggle back in bed...lol...but, it's 10:30 in the morning so that's probably not a good idea. Even though none of us had a lot of money to spend, we did alright. I made the kids a gift basket with salsa, jellies and a pound of Sumatran coffee beans, 2 gas gift cards and an ice scraper mitten for their cars. The oldest grandson got a pair of gloves and hat and the youngest got a Twilight game, a pizza gift card, and a fleece blanket. My husband got a Backyard Orchardist book he wanted, as well as one about weeds. He also got gloves, ice scraper, and a calendar of [Mini] Weapons of Mass destruction, which has pictures and directions for building catapults and things on each month. lol As you can imagine, him being a boy and all, he LOVED that.

And now, here I sit in the quiet.

Loving my life, loving my family and loving my friends.

All in all, a good way to feel, on this, the 2nd day of Christmas.

Blessings...

Namaste.

It's officially Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

Froeliche Weinachten.

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It's closing in on 1 AM and I am getting ready to go to bed. All the Christmas shopping, the wrapping, the making of goodie baskets, the signing of cards....all done.

We had a lovely gathering of friends at the house on Friday night, and it was GOOD. The soup was just right, the cookies were laid out in all their glory and the hot spiced cider filled the house with the dazzling aroma of cinnamon and cloves. There were 14 people and 4 dogs and only one small mishap. lol Old connections were strengthened, new ones were forged and all in all it was a rousing success. The house was clean enough and the candlelight and minimal Christmas decorations were perfect. I put together a snack tray of cream cheese and jalapeno and sweet red pepper jellies and everyone was knocked out by it. 4 people went home with jars of the jalapeno jelly.

By the time it was all over, I felt happily beaten to death. lol And while I sat on my big ole white butt, my husband and his brother cleaned up the last of the dishes that my 2 good friends didn't get done. I could hear the boys in there, laughing and telling stories and I stuck my head in to ask if they were having flashbacks of their childhoods. My BIL said--No, he hasn't punched me yet. And they dissolved in laughter.

I am so happy that my husbands brother was able to come down and spend this holiday with us...to see them together like this is heart warming, to say the least. The look in my man's eyes says it all.

We have a 9 AM breakfast date at my son's house and then we'll take a nice walk somewhere before coming home to spend the rest of the day together. I'm baking a ham, and a turkey breast, and all the accoutrements. I've invited my neighbors over if they want to come...they will be leaving on Monday to meet up with their grown children up in Wisconsin, so will be home alone for the Christmas Day, unless they have plans with some of their church family. I emailed them tonight and haven't heard back...otherwise it will be just the 3 of us here for the feast. Whatever happens will be exactly right.

I am sitting here feeling especially blessed...to have friends and family, to have cyber friends that mean so much to me. This blog means the world to me and the rich contacts I have made here are an absolute and complete blessing. I got an email from Mama Pea telling me I won the Christmas Cookbook giveaway and I am tickled pink. Thanks!!! I come here and read about your lives and your trials and your joys and am reminded once more just how connected we all are and how interdependent life is. I learn from you and maybe I even teach you from time to time. I am touched by the beauty of all of our lives and the small blessings that we share with one another. I am overcome with gratitude tonight and I wanted to take a minute to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart for being such an important part of my every day life. Thank you for sharing your life with me...your strengths and your weaknesses, your fortitude in the face of adversity and your pure true hearts. You make me want to be a better person...you make me laugh and you make me cry and most of all, you make me write from my heart too.

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you....may all the blessings of this world be yours.

Namaste.

I really should be sleeping...

2011-12-22T23:28:00.000-08:00

...or something. Working. Sleeping, probably.

Doesn't really matter. It's after 1 AM. In approximately 17 hours I will have a house full of people expecting to be fed and so far I have only made 1 pot of vegetable beef soup. Well..and some snack mixes. I have to make Creamy potato soup and white chili still, as well as some rolls or loaves of bread. I have to finish cleaning and go to the book store for my brother in law's Xmas gifts. I need to hit Aldi's and the Starbucks for coffee and half and half. Oh shit. I'm never going to have things ready in time.

Oh well. It will be what it will be. Right. I can always delegate some of the work to the Irishman, although he doesn't always follow directions well. I sent him to Walmart for gift cards for his sisters and he came back with Discover cards instead of Visas that I asked him to get. And you know how hard it is to find anyone who takes Discover cards. Well, you and I know. He hasn't a clue. sigh...

Yet...here I sit. And I worked up a storm today doing something (I must have--I'm tired). But the birdcage is still not cleaned. The office is a disaster. The guest room, however is all clean and the linens changed and so at least there's that.

My body is tired but my mind is racing. Ever feel like that? Not sure if I can shut this thing off long enough to fall asleep if I do go in there... I need to carry the soup pot out to the mudroom and get out the frozen ground turkey for the white chili so it can defrost. It won't take long really to make the other two soups. One of my guests is bringing Xmas cookies. One is bringing a cheese and cracker tray (or something). I will put out a tray of 2 blocks of cream cheese, one with a jar of sweet red pepper jelly poured over it and one with jalapeno jelly. It will look quite festive, all red and green. I have enough crackers and snacks to keep them all busy... I usually put out a tray of different pickled things from my garden...dilly green beans, pickled okra, sweet and hot peppers, pickled baby beets...add some olives and call it done.

Can't wait to see my brother in law...what a treat to have him here for the holidays.

Okay...maybe I've talked myself down some and can actually get some shut eye..it's going to be morning entirely too soon.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Namaste.

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah.....someone's in the kitchen, I kno-o-o-ww.....

2011-12-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

It's the week of Christmas. Everyone will be scurrying around making themselves crazy with all the last minute shopping and baking and cooking and cleaning.

Me?? I'm trying to pace myself. LOL

On Friday, I cleaned me a little house.

On Saturday, I baked me some cookies....an oatmeal with dried cranberries and walnuts and some sugar/butter cookies. They turned out nicely, about 8 dozen cookies in all, I think.

Today though, I'm getting ready to make Alton Brown's toasted coconut macaroons. The coconut is toasted and ready...

The recipe looks easy enough and all I have to do is run to the store for a few things first. Oh, and I did the dishes from this morning's breakfast. AND gave Roxie the Doxie a bath. Used a new botanicals pet shampoo that I picked up somewhere and it's got aloe and oatmeal, so hopefully it will help this infernal scratching from her dry skin. I'm going to start feeding her fish oil capsules as well. She didn't have a flea on her, which surprised me....

So the Irishman is gone and won't be home til long after I've gone to MissB's. He was gone for over 12 hours yesterday. sigh...today it's service commitments. I'm thinking I might just get dressed and take a run up to the county seat in Carlinville. There's a grocery store up there that has good meat sales from time to time, and also has a quaint little square filled with cool shops. I still have to find something for Patrick's brother, who is coming to spend Christmas with us. I haven't gotten anything for my husband either, as far as that goes. But I never shop until the last minute. Ever. Not sure what that's about (sales, maybe? LOL) but I have done this ever since I can remember. My kids are getting a big basket of yummies with some gift cards tucked in around the edges, so that's no big deal. My sister-in-laws and niece in Wisconsin all got gift cards that will go into the cutest little purse/card holders I got at Walgreens.

They have a snap closure...too cute. The moms and pops are getting a Harry and David Christmas basket, which is winging it's way there as we speak. Little baby Lily will be getting a soft toy from us...those things will all be going back up with the BIL so we don't have to ship them.

So really, I guess, It's pretty much all done, except for the Irishman and his brother.

So--on to the party this coming Friday. lol

I am going to make some of the caramel snack mix and need to get the stuff for that today as well. It's Chex cereals, pretzels, bugles, peanuts (or mixed nuts), and cheerios. You whip up a caramel coating and pour it over and then toss it in the oven to toast. It's awesome and addictive, and makes nice nibbles. I'll pick up a box of candy canes too. I might even make caramel corn...it's easy and inexpensive enough...

Starting tomorrow I will be baking crackers and breads and on Thursday will start the soup making endeavors. The Irishman only works Monday and Tuesday this week and then has vacation he has to use up, so won't be back to work til the Tuesday after Christmas. I have big plans for that man. LOL We'll spend most of Wednesday and Thursday housecleaning, inside and out.

One of the women I work with at MissB's informed me at our little Christmas lunch on Friday that she is working for me on Christmas Day !! She's spending Christmas Eve with her kids and I told her I'd stay late for her last week so she can have more time with her grandson. What a nice present ! I was completely surprised by her gesture...I had accepted that I would be spending a chunk of both Eve and day away from home. I guess all those suppers and cookies and jams that I have given her this year have paid off! lol

I have a half a ham (probably 10-15 lbs) and a turkey breast (2, actually) in the freezer and that's what we're having for Xmas Day. I'll gussy it all up and fix some sweet potatoes and green beans (from the garden, of course). I have a pumpkin pie in the freezer too and a peach, so there's that. The BIL gets really tickled pink about eating things we've grown...poor city boy....lol It will be a Christmas meal fit for kings. Thinking I may just have to fix a plate and haul over to MissB's for my friend as well. It's the least I can do...

Well, the tree cutters are working again today and making the doglets crazy. Although they are better...getting used to it I guess, as they've been here the better part of 5 days. On Thursday I was coming home from the store and saw them fiddling around, so I slowed the car and leaned out the window, batting my eyelashes..."Hey boys...." (in my best Mae West imitation)...I asked them what they were doing with the wood chips and they told me they have to drive all the way to the other side of town with them. I asked if they would like to leave a load of them at my place, just up the road. (Let me back up a minute here...these guys are from southern Missouri, a town called Fair Play. In an absolutely non-derogatory manner, I am going to tell you that these boys are true hillbillies, in every sense of the word. They didn't have a mouthful of teeth between all 4 of them. They were chawing tabaccer and spittin' and when I pulled up, one of them said to me "Hey sis." in that southern midwestern drawl. These are my people, ya'all...my grandfather's family and my dad --all from southern Missouri. Just sayin'...) So anyway, by now, they are all crowded around my car. They asked if they would get their truck stuck and I said no, I have a long driveway and a turnaround. Another one said--You know, it's a LOT of chips, sis. And I said yes, I know...I got some last time the trimming was done here, 5 years ago. The younger one of the 4 then said tom me..."Ya got a tractor, sis?" To which I replied No, but I've got a wheelbarrow and a really good shovel. I thought he was gonna ask me to marry him....

So, I am now the proud owner of a small mountain of free wood chips that will be used to line the walkways between my 6 garden beds, the path that goes around the side of my house, to fill in the areas of the yard right in front of the porch where Bella and Roxie have been excavating. I'm going to throw down grass seed, put a light layer of straw and then chips over it and wait til spring. I'll use it around my rock wall over on the side yard and it will become a helpful weed barrier where all the lilies and irises are planted. Plus it will tidy up that area. Whatever is left will go in bare areas around the chicken coop and compost bins and wherever else I can find that needs a little TLC and erosion control.

Merry Christmas to me. LOL Someone told me "You know you're a country girl when you get THAT excited over a pile of wood chips." "FREE wood chips", I pointed out. It doesn't take much to make me happy these days.

Alrighty. I need to get those cookies made. They're not gonna make themselves....

Namaste.

Whaddaya gonna do?--It's Christmas...

2011-12-13T23:28:00.000-08:00

It's official...I am an idiot.

Yesterday, in a fit of holiday madness, I planned a quickie respite from the holiday madness in the form of a small dinner/gathering for about 15 of our friends, on the Friday evening before Christmas Eve. The insanity of it is that it will be a respite for everyone except (duh) me. I started thinking about it, went to Evite, made an invitation and hurried up and sent it out before I could come to my senses and change my mind. The upside is that I need a smack in the head about holidays (this should do it) and it gets worse every year, seems like. I procrastinate, I grumble, I drag around like I'm waiting for the executioner. It's ridiculous.

The crazy thing is, once I get going with things I'm fine. I'm not just fine..I'm ecstatic. I'm a sucker for holiday celebrations, and any excuse will do. This morning I woke up thinking..hmm.. a light supper. Soup, naturally...a couple of different kinds, some a little more hearty, some light...and some breads and cracker assortments...and hot spiced cider and Mexican Hot Chocolate and coffee and teas and (of course) Christmas Cookies. I haven't baked or made anything yet, cookie-wise. But that won't take SO much time, right? I have one recipe for a basic dough that you divide and make 5 different kinds of cookies with. That's a time saver. lol

So now, I have a reason to get the house all decorated and fling myself with abandon into the festivities. Because, dammit, I DO like the festivities . I DO like the excitement and the love and the FOOD. lol MY brother-in-law is coming for Christmas with us, if the weather doesn't prohibit it. I am so happy about that. MY husband will be happy about that. We usually have small uneventful Christmases together...and the last 2 years we have spent Christmas morning at my son's house, where he cooks a magnificent huge breakfast and we exchange gifts. In years past, when we lived away from all our families, we had quiet melancholy holidays that included phone calls and maybe a movie. Now that we're closer, it has changed some...we always have Thanksgiving with his family or mine, and though Christmas is still immediate family, none of his has ever been part of ours. SO--this year (God willing and the creek don't rise--or the blizzards come) his brother will be here with us.

I have had 2 Christmas parties here in the last 6 years. It is always fun and in the end, I am always glad I did it. I don't get myself too worked up over it all...and make sure that I enjoy myself. One of the beautiful things about winter parties is that it gets dark early, so you can softly light your dirty house with twinkly lights and candles and nobody knows the difference. (Take THAT! Martha Stewart!! lol) I do usually try to make little gifts for everyone...a fancy wrapped box of home made candies, a small stocking stuffed with exotic treats,-one year I found Santa Claus and Snowman jars at the Dollar Store and filled them with a sweet Chex mix recipe that my mother-in-law makes. I stuck red and green ribbons on the top and they were sweet beyond belief. Sometimes I make baskets of jellies or something, but usually I try to keep it simple and cheap. It's more fun that way, and easier for people to take. lol

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It's after 1 AM now and I'm fading fast. Another rough night with the Altzheimers patient, bless her heart. She's losing her bearings a lot more often now, and doesn't know where she is, then gets very agitated. It's hard to watch and even harder to deal with. Every muscle in my body hurts...stress, I'm guessing. Stiff neck, headache and all my joints are aching. It's done nothing but rain all day too, which never helps me. So I shall bid adieu and head for that beautiful sleigh bed, with it's soft beautiful linens and the lovingly made quilt that lies atop all.

An appointment with the Sandman....

Namaste.

In the quiet of the morning...

2011-12-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

Dance, puppet...DANCE. lol

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I woke up this morning thinking about my dad. I could hear the Irishman in the living room laughing and playing with the dogs, telling them to shush, 'cause mom's still sleeping. To be honest I couldn't hear them at all, only him laughing. How blessed am I ? The first time we spent a weekend together was at a campout, and when we woke up in the tent that morning, he woke up laughing and ON. And I thought "Thank God--a man who doesn't take an hour to wake up enough to be civil and talkative!" LOL I have always been that person--the minute I wake up, I spring out of bed and and fling myself into the day. Smiling (usually).

But this morning I woke up really sad that my dad never got to know this man...this man who has the heart of a giant and a pair of blue eyes that light up my world. This man who carries spiders outside and gently puts them on the tree. This guy who caught a flying squirrel (that somehow [cats] got into our house once) in his ballcap and carried it a half mile from the house to let it go so the dogs wouldn't go after it. This wonderful man who sits on the couch to read, and becomes a nesting place for assorted cats and dogs, who he accommodates with love. This guy whose love for nature rivals my fathers...the man who passed that love onto me as a child and it has stuck with me ever since.

And then I jumped out of bed and grabbed my glasses so I wouldn't bump into the walls, and came out to the living room, where he sat in his underwear and socks, playing ball with the Jack Russell Terrorist.

This is my life people.

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I have some bread raising (rising?) in the kitchen and some dirty dishes from breakfast waiting for me too. We had a big bowl of old fashioned oats, with walnuts and dried cranberries and brown sugar and cinnamon. So, not too many dishes, but enough to make it messy. And I was looking around at my kitchen and thinking messy is okay, when you live out in the country and you work in your kitchen probably as much or more, than anywhere else in your house. And I was thinking about how lived-in my house is...from the kitchen to the bathrooms. There is certainly no mistaking this place for any kind of show room. lol But you know, we are really HAPPY here. It's no mansion, probably not even a really NICE place. But love fills in the cracks like spackle from the heart. There is a lot of love here. And it's all ours. And that means something to these old folks. It's the kind of a blessing a lot people don't ever get to experience, and I'm just so grateful that we do. And it must show, because everyone that has ever come here has loved it and immediately felt at home.

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It's cold again today, but not as cold as yesterday was. Supposed to get back up in the high 40's by mid week. I hope to get out to the studio and get some of my Christmas stuff out for some decorating. Will just put up a couple of small fiber optic trees probably, and might even buy one of the little rosemary "trees" they like to sell this time of year around these parts. I have a Santa collection, but last year I didn't even get half of it out. Probably time to go through it all and cull the least favorites. But not today. :) We have lots of fresh evergreens outside, so I will carefully take some down and bring it indoors for the decorating too.

Today I am going top start a couple of projects: I'm going to make the Christmas wreath that Julie from Mooberry Farm made (go see her!!!)--the one from recycled plastic bags and a wire coat hanger. She put the complete directions on her page, and I can follow directions. lol The other thing is a batch of pickled cranberries. I got the cranberries yesterday. It just sounds exciting to me, pickled cranberries. (I am a HUGE cranberry fan). I also have a recipe to try, for a Vanilla Pear Jam. I bought the pears and vanilla beans the other day. And I want to make some orange marmalade--oranges are plentiful this time of year, and I have always wanted to make it and never have. The last 2 will have to wait for another day...the marmalade will be a day-off endeavor, since I suspect cooking oranges down to marmalade is a long process.

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I can't tell you what a mixed blessing the internet and a computer is for me. lol One the one hand--gazillion of bits of information at the touch of a key. On the other hand, gazillion of bits of information to read through and go through and link to and sink in to....lol

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Okay. I need to think about what to make for supper and whether it's going to be a soup or stew maybe? I have some cubed pork in the freezer I could use to make a Jamaican goat stew with, since I don't have anything out there except ribs of the goat persuasion. A hot lightly spicy steaming bowl of chunks of succulent meat, sweet potatoes, okra, tomatoes in a thick gravy with a handful of dried corn thrown in for good measure. That does sound good, doesn't it? The bread this time is also loaded with whole grains and quinoa and flax seed and raw sunflower seeds. I have some gingersnap bars still, loaded with molasses and ginger and ground cloves that will go well with a steaming cup of cocoa too, for after dinner snack. That will be after I get back from MissB's house tonight at 8...

If I don't step away from the computer, none of this will happen. So, here I go.

Happy Sunday, all y'all....

Namaste.

Drawing down from a long week...

2011-12-08T23:10:00.000-08:00

(I LOVED this....says it all)

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I'm tired. Too tired, and now the doc says the EKG shows a problem. A "possible" inferior event--whatever the hell that means. Do these guys just make this shit up as they go along? And how can one guy look at it and say it's good and another look at it and say it's not? The latest wants me to have an echocardiogram and a stress test. At a hospital that HE chooses.

The whole thing smells very funny to me.

At any rate...

One of my dearest friends died yesterday. She lived her life like a freight train sometimes, lol, hard and fast and did whatever she wanted to whenever she wanted to. And in the end, she died peacefully of a cardiac arrest. And I have cried and remembered and processed as much as I can, and I am exhausted. And I will miss her with all my heart, and remember our times together with great love. And there will be a hole in me, from now until forever.

**********************

If that weren't enough...little Roxie took off like a bat outta hell last night and disappeared. I mean--vanished without a trace. We looked everywhere for her and she was nowhere to be found. That really gave me something to cry about. *grin.* She was gone all night long, and all I could think was that she was lost and the temperature was in the 20's and she couldn't find her way back. Would the coyotes get her? Would the big German Shepherds that live up the road find her?

I didn't sleep well, everything considered. When I got up this morning there was still no sign of her. I went to my 10 AM dr appt and then went to do a little grocery shopping and when I got back, there she was, curled up with the Jack Russell Terrorist (who doesn't like her, normally). I was beside myself. She ran into the house and dove headfirst into her little burrow of fleece blankets. She proceeded to sleep most of the day, either in the blankets, or up on my lap.

**********************

I feel all funny and disconnected and sad and scared and tired. I am going to bed in a minute here, because the events of the past 24 hours have just been too much.

I actually cleaned house a little today, just to give me something else to think about. Well, that AND my old high school friend is coming by tomorrow morning for a quick visit. lol She has some cat allergies and so I try to make sure things are vacuumed before she comes. Poor thing. I took the leaf out of the table, put groceries away, vacuumed, swept and mopped and put a lace tablecloth on the table. It looked so nice...and later, when I was sitting in the living room with my DH watching The Mentalist, I looked over and realized that I had put a lace curtain panel on the table. AND IT FIT. Crikey. I'm leaving it on there too, lol. I have the loveseat covers in the dryer and the chair cover in the wash. Before I go to bed, I'm going to get those covers out of the dryer and get the others in and started. I'm not putting the slipcovers on tonight though...if I do, they'll be full of cat and dog cooties before daybreak.

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This is short and not so sweet...I hope I'll be in a better frame of mind tomorrow. Must be the moon....

Namaste.

Rainy Sundays...

2011-12-04T04:55:00.000-08:00

A warm weird Sunday morning in December. Rainy, but 55 degrees. It's 5 AM and I am up because I was in bed again last night at 7:30...exhausted from spending the better part of an otherwise beautiful day in the ER at our local hospital. On Friday night, once again, I was experiencing slight chest pains and was having shortness of breath episodes. Not bad, but enough that it had me so tired I was in bed again at 7 PM and slept for over 2 hours before getting up and staying up awhile. On Saturday morning, when I got up looking like hell, the Irishman said "Enough." and made me go to the hospital. I know he was worried about me, and thinks that I don't think I'm worth taking care of...but it isn't that at all. I very much think I'm worth taking care of, lol. I just don't always think that doctors are the ones who can do it.

I swear to you...the pains never subsided, though they lessened some. Naturally, even though we got there and were one of maybe 3 people in the whole place, we apparently opened some cosmic floodgate, and within an hour there were 4 major emergencies and maybe 20 other people filing through the emergency room. We were there for almost 8 hours.

The good news is...the ekg showed a very healthy normal heart, banishing any fears I had that my genetic anomalies were worming their way out of my genes and into my reality. That is something always in the back of my mind, since both parents had heart disease and their parents too. (Side note: my mother died at 55 and my father died at 60). In 33 days, I will have lived to the ripe old age of 59...so I'm closing in on being a winner in this race. The blood work they did showed every single thing they test falling right smack in the middle of their range. (I've always been super good at taking tests, even when I BS my way through things). *grin* My blood pressure was high, 169/78, but for heavens sake, I was in the hospital ER , surrounded by dead and dying people. Plus, my knee hurts so bad, I'm sure that is part of the deal.

My dear Irish husband sat through the entire ordeal with me, holding my hand, making jokes and generally annoying the nursing staff.

The upshot of this is that there is something wrong, hence the SOB and pain, but they don't know what. The charming old doctor, (who, it turns out was raised on a farm near here, and sounds just like an old Marlon Brando) says he thinks I should go and have a complete thyroid workup, and wrote an order for such. I think I should go to my regular doc and have him write me a prescription for Zantac again, as I'm thinking maybe the anti-inflammatories that I take for my knee are wreaking havoc on my digestive system and maybe this is all a bad case of acid reflux rearing its ugly head again. After I got hurt, back in 2001, I was on so much medication (pain meds, A-I, bladder meds, and muscle relaxers, that I nearly died from the acid reflux they caused. lol (You have to understand that I am not a pill taker, and at that point I had been sober for 11 years with nothing stronger than an occasional; aspirin in my system--so it was kind of a chemical holocaust in my gut). At any rate, they put me on Nexiuum for a year, which solved the problem. And I will have the thyroid workup done as well, just because.

I felt very foolish yesterday for taking up space in a busy ER, wasting money I could easily spend on something else, and being so afraid of having heart problems. And I really was afraid that I had had a small heart attack the night before Thanksgiving. Because here's the deal: I have lived a very different lifestyle than my predecessors. I have never smoked. I have eaten healthy food, lots of whole grains, since the early 70's. I eat little red meat. I am not a nervous, crazy person. I live a pretty quiet comfortable life. And I know all this has to balance out whatever genetic evil lurks within, to some degree. And I don't care what a study from some University says about attitude not making a difference. I know better. I know it matters, and a LOT.

So...there you have it.

On a brighter note, lol, last night I slept from 7:30 until 4:30 this morning. HOLY CRAP BATMAN !!!! And this morning my back hurt so bad I could barely get my butt out of bed. And I was sweating like the mayor at election time. I felt like I must have slept the sleep of the dead and not changed positions all night. lol

We went to the movies on Friday, a matinee, and I was appalled at what it cost (went to the movie in the city). Our little small town movies are 4 dollar matinees, and a popcorn combo for like 5.50. In the city, it was 6.50 for the matinees (each, people!!!!) and almost 11 for 1 medium popcorn and a large drink. We shall certainly confine our movie going to our little theaters from now on...just on general principle. AND they had bagged up the popcorn ahead of time, and put it under a light, so it sucked. Nothing worse than cold old movie popcorn. I am a shameless popcorn afficionado, and if I could take my own, I would. Anyway, we saw the new Adam Sandler movie, Jack and Jill. It was a hoot, with a wonderful performance by Al Pacino.

Not sure what's on my docket today in the hours before I go to MissB's, but it might include taking it slow and easy today. A tiny bit of straightening the house and maybe finally giving Roxie the bath I've been meaning to do for a week. Maybe. I'm already starting to yawn and thinking of lying down a bit....there are all kinds of sappy Hallmark and Lifetime movies on tv about the holidays and miracles and god-knows-what-all. Maybe I'll get another cup of coffee and lie around like a bum and just ease into this new, healthy hearted day. lol I don't watch a lot of television, except when I'm [rarely] sick...then I indulge myself in the stuff.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. No sign of snow here, lots of rain though. Looked at the weather channel a minute, since the Irishman is driving up north about 2.5 hours from here. I see that some of you are getting mucho snow...you can keep it, thanks! lol

Namaste.

And so begins December...

2011-12-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

The world is my classroom....

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It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. About 50 degrees out there and sunny as all get out. I am doing laundry and going to bathe the Honey Badger. I just finished blanching and freezing 6 quarts of Brussels Sprouts that I picked up at a little nursery/produce market the next town over. I love those things. I'm going to make a recipe to go with dinner that is caramelized onions, garlic and Brussels Sprouts...and maybe the Irishman will try them and come to love them as well. Maybe. And if he doesn't, well then....more for me. Bahahahahahahahaha......

********************

I found a nice piece of material with which to make the Irishman's shirt today. It's a soft medium brown stuff--got it at a thrift store. I'm gonna give it the old college try. I didn't find much of anything else and so I came on home. My pecans arrived that I ordered from my neighbors church. The dogs are out basking in the sun. All is right with the world. I could use a nap. Was up at zero dark thirty and didn't go to bed until almost 2 AM...foolish girl...

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Slept over 2 hours. I did some laundry, cooked a magnificent supper, went to a women's meeting, and now I'm back home again. It's getting cold outside and I'm ready to snuggle in for a nice long evening. I'm in my flannel jammies with my aqua blue fleece housecoat and my fuzzy socks, and ready to go. lol The Irishman is watching one of the National Treasure movies and the dogs are in various sleeping/playing poses around the living room. I had hoped to get the Honey Badger bathed today, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. She needs a good going over, ears cleaned and scrubbed up good. She's going to love it, you can bet. *grin

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My friend is in the hospital in Florida, suffering from a variety of age/tobacco maladies. God bless her...I hope she's going to be okay. She called an ambulance the day after Thanksgiving because she couldn't breathe. Apparently she'd been having problems for awhile, and kept ignoring it and hoping it would go away. Typical. lol I've been talking with her daughter and she's keeping me updated. It's making me think long and hard about the stuff that's going on with me...heart racing, a little short of breath and extremely tired. Damn. Getting old ain't for sissies, as a friend of mine always says.

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Well, I'm gonna go hang with my baby and turn off this computer and try to get to bed at a decent hour.

What'da ya think?? It could happen.....

Namaste.

OMG!! It might be winter!!

2011-11-29T09:05:00.000-08:00

But I'm not gonna get too excited yet. The weather has taken a turn for the nasty....43 degrees and rainy.and almost 11 AM, so I think we can be pretty sure it won't get much warmer. Although the rain is supposed to stop.

Just for today, for right now, I am content to be in my warm homey house, surrounded by yapping dogs and trying to figure out if I can get my bread starter made. I have to go to town early today, and that always messes up my schedule.

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My son came today and took my car in for a new front tire. He's buddies with the guys at the used tire place. They got him a really nice tire and it only cost me 30 dollars. The front end on the car was shimmying so bad I could barely hold the wheel. See, we live out on a county road and they never have the money to properly repair the roads. Potholes and washboards are the order of the day, and this mess EATS tires. So I never buy new ones anymore, it isn't worth it. I do get gently used ones that come off wrecked cars. The Irishman was worried that it was the tie rods, but number one son says it rides smooth as glass now. Thank goodness--the car repair gods have already punished me enough for one year. lol

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I'm going to start a batch of the artisan bread here in a minute, altering the recipe slightly. I'm adding a half cup of Bob's Red Mill 6 grain cereal to the mix. I had some of my friends bread made this way and it was awesome. She told me today that she just made some with raw quinoa added to it and that I should really try it--it was great. Maybe next time. When I stopped to buy the cereal last night, I also picked up a bag of flax seed and a bag of corn grits for making polenta. I love polenta...

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Not much going on around these parts. I did just get a call from my neighbor telling me that the church's pecan sale started and that pecans were up to 9.00/lb this year. I think that's still cheaper than the stores. And they're beautiful nuts, I bought some last year. So, I ordered 3 pounds. That might get me through the winter. I'm going to talk to my brother in Georgia too...maybe his wife can get me some nice ones (she owns a restaurant there). Pecans are my favorite--a versatile nut that can be used in a thousand different ways. I'm on the verge of needing walnuts too...

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I am lazy today. Not really doing much of anything besides the bread dough, which I only have to stir together and leave out on the counter until tonight. Thought maybe I'd vacuum, but....maybe not. Going in to MissB's early today, and not looking forward to that. She is keeping her house at about 84 degrees all the time since it got cool. We all go in and change it and she goes back and changes it again. I keep mine at 69. I can barely breathe in her house, it's so hot. It makes me sluggish and tired and cranky. She is 82 and refuses to wear anything on her feet or a sweater. sigh...I'm going to be as stubborn as she is when I'm that old, I just know it. lol

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Okay. I'm off to make bread and then go shower. Or...maybe a little nap.....I only got 5 hours sleep again last night and I'm suddenly pooped....

It's all about priorities, right??

Namaste.

Late night ramblings...

2011-11-27T23:46:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday night--oops. Monday morning, technically. I am tired and should be in bed, but I started reading blogs and now I'm awake enough to stay here in this chair being annoyed by this damn fly that keeps crawling over my monitor. A fly. In late November. Hrrrmmppphhhh. Unheard of.

I like this. I seized the opportunity to can some pinto beans (6 quarts, to be exact) yesterday. Looking at the jars, they look awfully dry, like the beans soaked up ALL the liquid in there. I swear--I followed directions this time. I don't usually, but I have never canned dried beans before. I soaked them for about 10 hours too. We'll see how they are, I guess. I wanted to can another batch of pints too, but....maybe on Tuesday I'll be brave enough to try it again.

It's been a slow and quiet couple of days since the end of Thanksgiving. I have puttered around and not done much of anything. Hurray for me! lol I almost vacuumed this morning, but decided to let it wait until Monday morning. Instead, I watched the Sunday Morning Show and played on the computer for a couple of hours before going to MissB's. The Irishman was back home from his meeting by lunchtime, so we ate up some leftovers in the form of a hot turkey sandwich...turkey layered on stuffing and covered in gravy, with cranberry sauce on the side. It was good and filling, and a nice touch of comfort food on a cold and rainy day. The weather never did clear up and temps tonight are down in the low 30's and moving into the mid to high 20's the next few days. If the weather service is to be believed, it appears we are finally moving into some more typical late November weather.

We have a Jack Russell Terrorist with a tummy ache tonight... seems the Irishman took her to the reservoir and let her run and she found something nasty to chew on. He never learns...

This morning he opened the fridge and our quart jar of popcorn fell out and broke. So I spent a portion of my early morning vacuuming anyway. A post feast problem...too much food and too little room. lol I think I may be out of popcorn now. THAT is a disaster in this house.

I think I'll spend tomorrow cleaning out the fridge and relegating stuff to the compost bin. I'm SURE there's stuff in there that needs to go. Not my favorite job, certainly, but one of those ones like cleaning toilets that you have to do if you want to stay in your house. I try to be careful about how I cook, and it's only the two of us, but this just gets like this from time to time, no matter what. Are there people out there whose refrigerators are always spotless? That never have icky science project type foods in them? Not at my house. lol

This weather is bringing me a lot of achy joints and neck pain. I might actually be calling a chiropractor tomorrow morning. I got word that my favorite chiro in the world is winding his business down, and only opening 3 days a week now. sigh...You could barely get in to see the dear man when he was open 5 days... I am feeling really tired of feeling crappy, and some days can barely walk. I am going to get this darn MRI soon on this knee and see if there's something can be done. I'm only [almost] 59 years old, but if it's time for a knee replacement, then I have to get one. I tell everyone it's an old rugby injury. (Most of them believe me without question). LOL

Alright. I need to go to bed, it's after 1:30 AM . I'll be up early probably, and I need some sleep. One of my cats just went out, against my advice, and one came back in. Bella came in and wanted to get in her kennel and go to sleep. I checked the furnace because it felt cool to me, and the damn thermostat has reset itself again and was set at 60, so I jockeyed it back up to 69 and it's running like it's supposed to and warming the house considerably. It's one of those programmable ones and we have never figured it out. But it will run along just fine for weeks and weeks, and suddenly start resetting the temperature. arrgghhh...

Sweet dreams all...

Namaste.

Such a day I have had...

2011-11-25T22:20:00.000-08:00

I could live in a house like this...

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It's been a wonderful day after Thanksgiving. I finished off the turkey stock today and canned 11 pints, 7 of them with meat, 4 plain broth. The Irishman worked outside a big part of the day, coming in for little turkey sandwiches made on leftover rolls with cranberry sauce on them. We also had some kimchi on the side, and a little of this marvelous salad my SIL brought called Pretzel Salad. I'll post the recipe for it when she sends it...it's one my cousin made at the family reunion last year and is remarkable.

It was a gorgeous day, sunny and around 60 degrees. At about 4 o'clock, we took Miss Roxie and Miss Bella to the park for a walk. They had a ball. When we came back, he took Molly the Jack Russell Terrorist out to the reservoir where she can run like the wind. They came home to find me and both dogs asleep on the couch, lol.

I made a shepherds pie for supper, using turkey, of course. I also used dressing instead of mashed potatoes, and used all kinds of little root veggies in it that himself brought in from the garden. Had turkey gravy and some green beans in the fridge, so those went in as well. It was delicious, even if it was a little magenta colored from the baby beets. Then he had some lemon meringue pie and I cut into the peaches and cream pie. Let me tell you something: I kinda invented this pie because when I was making pies the other day, I didn't think I had made enough peach filling for a deep dish pie. SO I ADDED TO IT. Then, naturally, I had too much for one pie, but not enough for 2. sigh...I looked in the fridge, found some cream cheese and some sour cream, whipped them together with a tiny bit of sugar, spread the concoction across the bottom of a prebaked pie crust, poured the peach filling on top of that, and then piped the remaining cream stuff around the edge of the crust.

OH. MY. GOD.

It is magnificent. My husband was laughing at me, because with every bite I said, O, God. I am brilliant! O,God-this is sooooo good! He laughed until I spooned some into his mouth, at which point his eyes got big and he said..O,God--you ARE brilliant!! lol Peaches and Cream Pie. It's the bomb, people. lol

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SO now it's midnight and I'm ready to join my honey in bed for a good nights sleep...I did a good job of balancing R&R and accomplishing a few things today, so it feels like it was a very good day. I love days like this...I get to stay home and be grateful for my little home and my big family and my critters and my life. I didn't have to go out and join the madness (not a shopper) and spend money I can do other things with. I have decided to do a completely hand made Christmas this year...not that we usually buy a lot, because we don't. But I am going to try my hand at some dolls and some other little things for the few I do give gifts too. I have a book of handmade gifts that I'm going to go through and see what I can find. My grandson wants a fleece blanket (and Pizza Hut gift cards, lol), but my 2 little nieces would love a doll, something simple that they can carry around and sleep with. I used to do a lot of this stuff, but haven't in years. I'm also gonna try my hand at a shirt or two for the Irishman, he loves that stuff. I have an old shirt of his that came from South America that he always loved that I can use for a pattern. It's very simple, with straight lines.lol Even I should be able to do it. I guess I'd better get started, eh?

BTW--the kimchi is still fermenting, and several of my nephews tried it yesterday and loved it. One wanted some to take home. I am loving it...it tastes great, esp. since I so love ginger and garlic. lol

I am soaking some pinto beans to can tomorrow, since I still have the canner out from the turkey broth. I've been wanting to can some for awhile, for convenience sake. Also a good protein source to get to easily in the case of power outages. I have a lot of pinto beans (our favorite) in the pantry, probably 2 gallons of dried beans. Canning in the off season is almost fun :)

Alright then. I'm going to feed some fish and get ready to head for bed. (I just realized I haven't fed them yet tonight). The kitchen is clean, the animals have all been outside, and I am ready for some sweet slumber.

Namaste.

Sigh....it's over.....Thanksgiving at Honeysuckle Hill, 2011...may it R.I.P.

2011-11-24T21:51:00.000-08:00

The line starts HERE. lol

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Well, when it was all said and done, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. There were 25 people in attendance, enough food to feed a starving country and the ages ran from 4 months to 63 years. We had a really good time, and no one was offended by the dirtiness of my house. lol The 8 children in attendance had a ball seeing the chickens and playing with the dogs and cats and the bird.

Everyone was shocked that I didn't have paper plates or paper napkins. I did have to pull out a few pieces of plastic cutlery. lol It was really nice. My brother's (who .lives in Georgia) 3 boys came, and they usually don't. So that was a real blessing.

Folks started arriving around 11:30 and the last ones left around 6 PM. I am exhausted--in a really good way. I can't believe I'm still awake. lol I woke up this morning at 4:30, got up a bit and then came back to bed and slept another 45 minutes, woke up again. I was really not feeling well...my heart was racing and I was nauseous...worried me a little. I laid back down at 6:30 after the Irishman got up. Crazy. I took some Pepto Bismol and got myself dressed. Forcing myself to get up and get busy helped, but I was icky for a few hours. Feel like it's catching up to me again and so I think I'll go to bed.

I'll be back tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving and hope yours was filled with food and family and friends and lotsa love...

Namaste.

I'm in trouble. The High Holy Day of Gluttony is upon me.

2011-11-22T23:05:00.000-08:00

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I'm so far behind and it's almost the DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVNG !!!!

I had such a grand master plan and had convinced myself that it would all fall effortlessly into place and the house would gleam and sparkle like nobody's business. The food would all be perfect and my granny would be looking down on me and nodding her head in approval from heaven on high...

I HAD A LIST, PEOPLE !!!

It dictated my every chore, timed perfectly, and spread out over 2 weeks. I don't know what happened, because 2/3 of the stuff isn't done and it's the day before Thanksgiving [officially].

MAYBE I FELL INTO A HOLIDAY INDUCED COMA.

They did get me all fired up by putting up the Xmas decos in town 2 weeks ago. Ad 2 of the radio stations I listen to have gone completely Xmas already. And even the freaking Dollar store has jilted me. I can't find any Thanksgiving stuff, because the store has been stuffed from floor to ceiling with Xmas.

It all started when my son came over to help me with my kitchen cabinets, which was one of the first things on my list.

1. Clean and reorganize kitchen cabinets.

Somehow, it turned into, scrubbing all the cabinets inside and out. Putting new hardware on all 23 cabinets and 26 drawers (or something like that). Replacing or lining all the cabinets with a lovely self stick oak parquet floor tile, which, of course, had to be cut and fitted in every single one. (But it is awesome). Then he saw the leak under the sink and had to repair that. Repairing meant buying and installing a whole new faucet gizmo and blowing a window fan into the opening under the sink for a day and a half to dry it all out. Then I had to clean all the drawers and vacuum up all the wood shavings from the drill used to install the handles.

So, my one day job turned into 4. Now, mind you,...I am not really complaining here. Because I did want this stuff done [eventually] and it does look really good. But as you can see..I was NOT off to an auspicious start.

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2. Clean bathrooms, touch up paint.

Once again, it turned into a 3-4 day ordeal. Convinced that it wouldn't take any time at all to just go ahead and repaint the 2 bathrooms, we set off to buy paint and make ready. It took me a good 3 hours to get everything off the counters and walls, and brush down cobwebs. The master bathroom was a nightmare because it has a stupidly textured ceiling that was impossible to clean and made a mess every time you touched it. It was also mildewed beyond belief. The only solution was to paint the ceiling as well. With a foul smelling mildew retardant in the paint. On the bright side, I found a calm ocean blue paint on sale that matched the seashore wallpaper border around the ceiling. It looks great, now that it's all done. Thank you Jesus. Today I cleaned the toilets and floor behind the toilets and the sinks and it's all ready to replace the counter junk now. In the front bathroom, we took out the medicine cabinet and replaced it with a giant mirror in a wicker-ish frame that I got for nothing from Freecycle. It covers up a goofy wall and looks awesome.

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Somewhere in between there, I managed to disassemble and wash both living area chandeliers and glass panels, AND clean the ceiling fan. I got the mudroom all straightened up and swept out and sent the Irishman to the recycling center with a ton of stuff.

Today I worked on cleaning the kitchen. Not finished, but better. I put the leaf in the dining room table and got out some pretty tablecloths. So now, the cats think I've made up their bed in a most lovely fashion.

Tonight I was going to clean this office. But you can see where I wound up and now it's almost 1 AM.

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I still have to shampoo the carpets, massively clean our bedroom (you have to go through it to get to the master bath, and with 30 people coming for Thanksgiving, trust me...somebody's going to be walking through my bedroom). I need to take my little upholstery shampooer to the couch cushions. I need to burn the paper garbage in the mudroom. I need to mop the wood floors. I will be up late tomorrow (today) baking pies.

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OMG. I have lost my mind. Tonight I had a jolt of an epiphany that there is no way in hell I am ever going to get all this done. I tried to get somebody to work for me tomorrow, but no luck. (Did I mention that I've had to work every day too?)

The Irishman's truck is in the garage again (another part of this sad story--this is the second time in a week, and it cost 735 dollars the first time. Not much of a charge after we took it back to them, 75 bucks, but it's the time and effort in all this!!!) So now, I have to go to the next town where the truck is also tomorrow and at least pay for it and get the keys, or better yet, have someone take me there and pick it up myself. It's about a 20 minute drive each way.

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SO. I went to the store after work today and bought frozen deep dish pie crusts. That will save me several hours of work. Today I seasoned and toasted all the bread for the stuffing, so that is done. The turkeys are out of the freezer and thawing. At one point when I thought of all the stuff that isn't going to get finished on time, I almost started to cry. Then I realized how ridiculous it is, and just looked around me and sighed.

I have washed all the shower curtains and liners. I have washed all the slipcovers for the chairs and loveseats. I have a ton of laundry to do, but it may or may not get done. At the very least, I will spot clean the carpets (and of course, just in case it wasn't bad enough, it has done nothing but rain all day, making the animals be inside and the yard a muddy mess).

I will fly through this messy office with my feather duster and move all the dirt around. I'll pick up books and straighten my desk and it will be fine.

BTW--did I mention my vacuum cleaner is making a weird noise?????? It better hold out until Friday, that's all I can say.

Well, I'd better go to bed so that I can get up at 5 AM and get busy. I am way too tired tonight to do much of anything, even though I told myself I could clean this room tonight....it ain't happenin'....

I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving, shared with friends and family and everyone you love. I hope you all have lots to be thankful for in your lives. I'm filled with gratitude to know that I have a cyber family of bloggers out there that mean a lot to me. Even if we've never met or hugged or eyeballed each other. You all help me more than you will ever know.

Namaste.

Adventures in life

2011-11-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

Awww...no I'm not. LOL

************ I need to go check Linda's blog about the post on kimchi.

Yesterday, I chopped Napa Cabbage, kale, garlic, ginger, carrots and grated turnip. Covered it with a brine of salt and water, and am getting ready now to go drain the brine and get the spices into it. I'm very excited about this endeavor.

Today I cut corn off the cob that I had frozen whole in 2010 and it's in the dehydrator now. I needed the freezer space for the 20 pound turkey I brought home on Friday. It's all about the juggling, baby....lol

So I have been staying busy and trying to get my house readied for the onslaught of family that will arrive Thursday morning. I have kitchen cabinets all done, a new kitchen faucet installed (and no more leaks!!!!). I have the ceiling lights all sparkly and the ceiling fans cleaned. Tomorrow I will work on my bedroom and the big closet. It was on my list for Wednesday, but...oh, well. I am flexible if I'm anything. :) Whatever gets done will get done and whatever doesn't will probably not even be noticed by anyone but me. lol

I sent an email to my new hero Sharon Astyk tonight. I am as giddy as a schoolgirl. Just asking a question about something. I really think she will reply./\../\

Went to a birthday breakfast for my now 15 year old grandson this morning. Can't believe he will be driving next year. It was nice. He wanted Pizza Hut gift cards, so that's what he got. 40 bucks worth of pizza. lol

He was bedazzled.

The weather has been seesawing back and forth here. It was very chilly this morning, but by the time the wind stopped tonight it was back at 59 degrees. Might get rain, but it's warming back up. We had a couple of good frosty mornings where the temps were down in the high 20's. But now it's warmed up again.

I made a lovely tofu stir-fry last night for supper...lots of garden stuff in it like kale and turnips and carrots and asparagus..and ginger and garlic and red onion...and green beans and snow peas. Life is good when you get to eat things you've planted and nurtured and harvested with your own two hands.

I'm gonna go get that kimchi drained and spiced and into the jars. I'll make sure to take a picture of it's prettiness...

Oooooo...ain't it purty???? It really smells good too...we'll see how I feel after the fermentation starts. lol I ate a bite and the cabbage was nice and crispy. I'm going to use Linda's recipe next time. I also need to find some Korean red pepper flakes, as I used a potent cayenne this time.

Alrighty then...I am pooped and it's 1 AM here in the breadbasket. Time for sweet dreams and some good rest.

Namaste.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

2011-11-15T22:52:00.000-08:00

I probably used this picture recently...a steamy bowl of lentil soup with fresh baked bread and melting butter... But, I can't remember. And I'm too lazy to look. It's very chilly and foggy tonight, and a hot bowl of soup just looked good, dammit...

*******************

Been a busy couple of days. My list for Monday and Tuesday was to clean and rearrange all the kitchen cabinets. I bought cheap (translates: thin and flexible) vinyl self adhesive floor tiles to use to line the cabinets with. It works great. Cleans easily, is durable and looks good. (Oak parquet). I'm not entirely finished, still have a couple to go and will knock those out tomorrow. What did happen though, was my son came over and is helping, and put all new hardware on my cabinets and drawers. Not new, really, but new to me. There were no handles or pulls on any of my oak cabinets. A month ago or two, my neighbor gave me a whole box of cabinet hardware as she had replaced hers. They are nice and heavy, bronze or brass. There's also a leak under my kitchen sink from a bad faucet, and he's coming back tomorrow to repair/replace that. It turned out to be quite a job, those cabinets....all 21 doors and 13 drawers. I've been scrubbing down the inside/outsides with Spic'n Span, getting rid of all the ooey gooies that collect on kitchen surfaces, no matter how careful you try to be. (And I do NOT try to be careful...I'm like the freaking Galloping Gourmet in there, splashing about all willy nilly.) sigh..... Tomorrow's list includes a thorough cleaning of our master bedroom and the big walk-in closet, buying paint, and finishing up the cabinets. Then I'm off to Miss B's at 3...

****************

Craziness here...in St Louis, a baby was snatched from it's crib and later found murdered and the body left in a cemetery near a park. Good Lord...what madness....People are in shock in the quiet little suburb...

****************

I am tired and should be in bed. My nano writing is so far off the mark that I'm thinking of throwing in the towel. I just have not had the inclination to write much...not sure why. This would have been my 4th year...I might have a sudden burst of inspiration and write like a madwoman and make it, but it's not looking too good. Oh well. My biggest complaint about NaNo is that Thanksgiving takes such a big bite out of your 30 days of writing...but since no other month starts with N, I guess we're stuck with it. lol

*****************

I dehydrated the kale and it was interesting, to say the least. I found a recipe that called for lemon juice, olive oil and salt. I used that (followed directions and everything!) and I liked it well enough./ The oven dehydrated stuff was far inferior to the dehydrator dried stuff.. I'm going to make some kimchi...one recipe with Napa cabbage (traditional) and one with kale. I found a recipe that says you can use any kind of greens. I think I'll put carrot and daikon radish in it too. I'll mix that up on Thursday, I think. I was thinking....I'll bet I could use grated turnip in place of the daikon...most of the things I have read about kimchi said that there are as many variations as there are Koreans that make it. My kind of recipe. lol

*****************

My darling chickens have started laying again! I am thrilled. They haven't given me one egg for over a month....they were molting AND traumatized by the coon that killed the other 2. I have sorely missed my fresh eggs.

*****************

Busy day tomorrow and I need my beauty rest. Especially since I [think] I have decided to stop coloring my hair, and am letting it grow out some as well. LOL The grey is already coming in like gangbusters.

So, I'm going to bid you all adieu, and make my way towards the bedroom, hoping I don't fall over the stack of pots and pans and glass vases on the floor. lol

Never mind. I'll finish cleaning things up in the morning.....sweet dreams, waterbabies....

Namaste.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood...

2011-11-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

These are the pot of artificial flowers in the metal pot at the end of my driveway. I change them about 2 times a year, when they get all faded out and raggedy looking. lol I had to put them there, because when we first moved here, I kept passing our driveway. (So, if I try to kid you into believing that this senility thing is new, don't believe me. It's been going on a while now). lol

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some kids just came down the road with 2 big dogs, one of which came into my yard chasing my cats and then when the Mad Doxie went flying after them, 2 of them chased her up the hillside. Naturally, my tied up dogs went berserk and were absolutely beside themselves. I was around back emptying some compost bucket stuff n checking my chickens and ran around the house to catch all this. I yelled at the kids to keep their damn dogs off my property...they just looked at me. They live somewhere up the road and do this every weekend. It's bad enough right now because it's deer season around these parts, and all the hunters are chasing deer and shooting guns and generally making my life a living hell. I really NEED to live out somewhere on about 40 acres, surrounded by a national park or something where hunters and kids with dogs are prohibited....sigh...

Had a nice 2 days off and got lots done. I've been dehydrating kale and putzing around, cleaning house and making lists for the next 2 weeks. Things that I need to do to get ready for the big family Thanksgiving here. I want to paint the bathroom and clean the carpets and clean and rearrange the cabinets (you know--that stuff you always want to do, and MEAN to do, but need some really good motivation to actually DO. lol) Having about 30 people for Thanksgiving is a really good motivator, in my book.

I have a 17 pound turkey in my freezer, and one of the local markets had whole turkey breasts on sale for .99/lb, so I bought 2 of those as well. My sister in law is doing a pork tenderloin. We'll have plenty of meat. lol So far the menu is sounding really good...cranberry compote, home made rolls, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes in various forms, mashed potatoes, a big garden salad. That's just so far, lol. For my part, it'll be turkey and dressing(s)...I'll make one dressing with wild rice and wild mushrooms, and one regular sage dressing [for the faint of heart]. I'll get my big roaster out and cook the turkey and the 2 whole turkey breasts.

I'll make a sweet potato pie, a pumpkin pie (or 2), a fresh peach pie, and a Waldorf Salad. I'll put out a plate of pickled vegetables that I've put up the past couple of years...baby beets, mixed sweet peppers, okra, garlic cloves, dilled green beans, and a plate of the kimchi I'll be making this week.

Have I left anything out? lol

I have some chicken breasts thawing out to make a Sunday dinner for the Irishman and myself. He's gone to a meeting and I have the house to myself. I cleaned out my car, vacuumed it and got all the garbage out. I still need to take the cleaner in there and wipe it down...it was a real mess. And the HoneyBadger (our affectionate nickname for the venerable Miss Roxie Doxie) had mud all over her a couple of times when I let her into the car after a walk at the park, or when she had just been doing major excavation in the back yard. So there's dried mud to be cleaned up in there too. sigh....it's my life people...cleaning up after dogs, cats, birds and men. Constantly.

I better finish up out there while the weather is good. It's a glorious day, feels more like May than the middle of November. Sunny skies, a little breezy and about 65 or 70 degrees I'd guess. Crazy....

I'm off to make a lovely dinner. Not sure just what yet, but I know it will include chicken ion some form or another. A part of me is thinking a good old fashioned fried chicken dinner (well, sort of--it's only chicken breasts, not the whole chicken). Some mashed potatoes and green beans too, and we have some apple crisp leftover for dessert. With vanilla bean ice cream. If we still have room. lol

Have a grand Sunday, y'all....

Namaste.

"Human kind cannot bear very much reality." ~T.S. Eliot

2011-11-10T22:24:00.000-08:00

True words. This explains our constant need for political debates and television.

***************************************

I had a lovely day cleaning and cooking and having my sister and my sister-in-law to lunch today. I made the most lovely Vegan creamy carrot soup and then a gorgeous salad of greens and red onions and bell peppers and radishes and carrots. I topped it off with a heart stopping pile of roast beef, ham and smoked turkey with Provolone cheese, on 15 grain bread and grilled. We talked and laughed and ate like big dogs. I am really blessed with a pretty wonderful family.

After they were gone, I had a conversation with the electric company which resulted in cutting my bill nearly in half for this month and next. Yea....me!

Then I ran to the post office to mail said check and stopped at the local market that was having a sale. I got chicken breasts for 1.39/lb...ground chuck for 1.99/lb and country pork ribs for 1.89/lb. I spent over 50 dollars, but stocked the freezer nicely.

I've been home ever since.

It's cold out there, about 28 right now. Expecting a hard freeze tonight...we'll see. They said there would be one last night too, but it didn't happen. Then the temps are supposed to steadily increase and get back up to the 60's and 70's later in the week. it never got above 50 today and the wind was pretty fierce, so it felt even colder. Good day for soup, and we had enough left over from lunch to have for supper too.

We've got the garden covered, but I'm afraid if it gets too cold we may lose most of it. I have turnips that need harvesting and a bed of kale to dry. Anybody ever do that? Not sure if I want to just string it up somewhere or use the dehydrators or what. The kale needs a good freeze to bring out the sweetness. I have a bunch of green tomatoes out there too and I meant to pick them today to pickle, but I got way laid by my company and then forgot about it. Oh well. We'll see about them tomorrow morning. If they're lost, they're lost. I hate it, but not much I can do now after midnight.

Gonna cut this short and go to bed. I've been up since 5:30 this morning and am starting to run out of gas.

Plans to make an apple crisp tomorrow and find other fun stuff to do, which (as usual) will include chickens and food and love and happiness. The Irishman has a 10 AM appointment to get his tooth crowned and I don't really have any plans at all besides finishing the laundry I started today. Gonna be a "seat of the pants" kind of a day, I'm guessing. Sounds great to me.

TTFN. Sleep well and have a great weekend...

Namaste.

A rainy cool Monday--

2011-11-07T22:22:00.000-08:00

Apropo for a day like today. I am loving myself enough to take it easy today. The house is a mess, there are apples to process, dog hair to clean up, dishes to do...but I am moving a little slower than usual due to this darn back again. Instead of pushing my way through it, I'm going to go slow, take it easy and try to learn something today about the relationship of my body to my state of mind. Sigh...life's little lessons...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Seriously, this kind of weather makes me want to go back to bed. lol I slept about 7 hours last night, so you'd think I wouldn't be too sleepy, but I am. And then I decided I needed to have a big bowl of whole oats with raisins and pecans and butter and molasses for breakfast. Comfort food at it's finest. It was good, but it put me to sleep. lol Serious as a heart attack...At 10:30 I went back to bed and slept until after 1. My body must have been in need of rest, because I slept like baby. I'm not much for naps usually...only because my body has a hard time sleeping during the day.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Now I'm home and it's about midnight. Husbandman brought home a desk chair from work, all the office people got new chairs and were throwing the old ones away. It's quite nice actually, with a coffee stain on the seat, but otherwise apparently unmolested. I was thinking the other day that my old one might be part of the cause of the back problems...it's VERY comfy, which probably means it's shot. It's kind of a slouchy chair, if you know what I mean. I'm sitting in the new one now, and it's quite straight and tight. We'll see...

We have some major thunderstorms coming our way. Warmed up nicely today, even though it was rainy. Tomorrow is supposed to be something crazy like 50 and then it's going to hit 74 and then back down again. A person can't keep track of temperatures like that--lordy, you don't know how to dress from one day to the next. lol The rain has been good though, we were getting pretty dry. And an earthquake in Oklahoma?? Wonder what Rubye Jack had to do with that??? Did she bring earthquakes with her from California ??? And now I see a big one has hit Turkey, 7.2, and at least a thousand feared dead right off the bat. Yikes. Tomorrow morning I have to get out there and pick beans and peas again. Maybe some turnips too. Have to see. I have to bake a couple of pies and make the Irishman some mobile supper since he has class again this Tuesday. One of the pies is going with him to class...a lemon meringue, all made from scratch. There's a certain nun there I need to impress. lol They're talking about the possibility of a pie workshop, though they may have been kidding. I really like doing these.

Have a couple of friends who are having some troubles, and as much as I feel bad for them, there's really nothing I can do to help, except be a friend. A shoulder to cry on, and a sounding board. I can do that. Prayers and healing thoughts going out to all.

I ordered an apple corer/slicer from Amazon and a book for himself that are supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Hope so. The apple appliance was only about 8 dollars, and it's a stainless steel contraption with easy grip rubber handles on it. It cores and evenly slices the apple in one fell swoop. That will be perfect for drying apple slices. One of the problems I have dehydrating sometimes is that it's hard to cut all your slices of ANYTHING all the same thickness when you're slicing by hand. My son gave me a deli slicer last summer, and I was thinking that would work for slicing apples into rounds, if I decide to go that direction too. I just might.... If I still had 2 freezers, I would make and freeze some complete pies, but I don't, so I'll not be doing that. To be honest, I make more apple crisps than I do regular pies anyway.

The book is by a man named Jeremy Rifkin and is called "The Third Industrial Revolution". I'm looking forward to reading it myself. Mr. Rifkin (an internationally renowned U.S. economist) is a social critic and author who advises the European Union on climate change and energy security. He has some interesting things to say about peak oil and the world economy.

I'm still knee-deep in Sharon Astyk's book, Independence Days. It's an amazing read and I'm loving it and learning new stuff all the time. I want to read "A Nation of Farmers" next. Might put that book on my Christmas wish list. :)

Alrighty...I'm going to bed now so I can get up early tomorrow for a day of writing and baking and cleaning and gardening (if the timeline on the storms doesn't change). It's midnight and I'm not all that tired, but the yawning is starting and so I should be able to fall asleep quick enough.

sweet dreams, my darlings...

Namaste.

Friday is my favorite day of the week now...

2011-11-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

And this one was particularly good. We started off the day with a late breakfast of a delicious veggie scramble, with carrots,onions,broccoli and cauliflower and kale and tomato in it. After we finished I cleaned up the dishes while the Mister went out to the garden to start harvesting turnips. He pulled up roughly a dozen plants, cut the tops off and brought me in a laundry basket full of greens. Then we cut them up, washed them, blanched them and froze them. I got 2 quarts of turnip greens off those plants. We have about another 35 or 40 plants. I'm going to try making kim chi with some of them, and we'll feed the chickens some of them and we'll compost some probably. I'll probably freeze at least another 3 or 4 quarts. Then we'll start on the kale. :)

After we finished and cleaned up, our plan was to head for the hills of apple country, about 45 miles from here. Calhoun County is our local apple and peach district... a floodplain area of beautiful Mississippi River alluvium where the best fruit grows around here. It's really beautiful there and we figured we'd catch some fall colors and eat at one of the fish restaurants on the Illinois River for a late lunch.

We did actually see a lot of brilliant yellows and blazing reds too, but I never seemed to have the camera out at the right time. lol

The weather was a balmy 60 degrees (maybe) and clear and sunny. Really nice after yesterdays drizzly cold day. After we had lunch we took the slow road back down the river, stopped at a roadside stand and got some pumpkins and apples and then took the ferry back across the river. There was a bit of a delay as the river was full of barges today.

Here's the view out the windshield of our car, we're right behind bicycle lady.

And here's one of the big barges that went by.

The Mighty Mississippi was as smooth as glass today.

We drove on down the River Road and stopped for a minute to take a picture of the Piasa Bird, which was recently touched up and is looking good and ferocious. You can learn more about this native American dragon here :http://www.altonweb.com/history/piasabird/

So, all in all it was a good day. We stopped at the big grocery store in Alton before heading home to pick up ingredients for the 4 soups we'll be making at my workshop tomorrow. When we got home we hauled everything in and dropped onto the couch and watched some telly like the old folks we are. lol

Yesterday my son came over and installed the new sink in my bathroom. It was the typical male plumbing job, complete with much swearing and gnashing of teeth. I told him I usually leave the house anytime the mister is doing any kind of plumbing work. It was a dismal day, grey and cold and rainy. When he finished up (almost) I suggested he take a ride with me to Rural King, where he could carry some 40 pound bags of dog and cat food to the car for me and I'd buy him lunch. So we did, and then hit the Chinese Buffet. On the way home,. I asked if he wanted to stop in and see his grandma at the nursing home since we'd be driving right by it and he said yes, so we stopped and visited. She looked much better than last time I saw her and had company...2 old ladies that I knew from my former life being married to her son. I know he has a hard time seeing her like this, she had a stroke and she just wants to go back home to the farm. And they can't take care of her properly I guess, or they think they can't...so in the nursing home she stays.

Well, it's only Day 4 of NaNoWriMo and I'm already behind in my word count. LOL

Crikey.

I should go write some and then go to bed. It's already creeping up on midnight....sheesh.

Have a great weekend all!!

Namaste.

Happy Halloween...October's end...

2011-10-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

Kitties love Halloween too....lol

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Well the night shifts are over and I'm still alive. Barely. lol So glad I don't have to do that too often. 15 hour shifts with an Altzheimers patient are about 13 hours too many. Got a little more sleep last night than I did on Saturday night, so that's good. I was a walking zombie yesterday. You know--when I was young I never had a problem working doubles and OT and whatever got thrown at me. lol

I've been piddling around on the internet this morning and around the house as well. I need to call the furnace guy to check on my heat--it's not working. The house is plenty warm and we aren't freezing, thanks to our old slant Finn electric heater that we bought about 15 years ago and still runs like a champ. So it's easy for me to procrastinate. The way things have been going, we'll have to replace our furnace this year. sigh....maybe not though..Todd has magic hands when it comes to these old appliances. He lives up the road from us and is really good at what he does.

I keep saying I'm going to buy an Edenpure heater...haven't done it yet though. Our house is a little drafty and the windows leak air. We usually put plastic up every winter and that helps a lot. I put insulated drapes up too and little things like that go a long way. I have high hopes that I will get some window quilts made this year for the bedroom windows. Every year we price new windows, and after we've regained consciousness, say "Maybe next year". lol

I'm cooking a couple of big pieces of pork butt that I got on sale last week for .99/lb. I'll throw some bbq sauce on it and smash some potatoes and call it supper. I have some beans in the fridge that didn't get canned yet--I'll cook those too. It will make a nice supper for the Irishman, and some for me to take with to MissB's at 3 for my supper too. If I'm not real careful I end up eating a lot of junkie fast food type stuff when I'm at her place. I need to make a more conscious effort to not do that. I really do prefer my own cooking. lol

I need to get off here and make some granola bars and finish up a few things. Thought maybe I'd get a nap in this morning, but it didn't happen. Got about 6 or 7 hours of sleep last night, so it's not too bad. The night before was awful and I came out of it with about 3 hours. Not enough...even for this old insomniac.

Have a grand day all...and remember to be kind.

Namaste

The St Louis Cardinals are the World Series Champs!! (even though the whole world doesn't get to play--we don't care)

2011-10-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

...and believe we did.....and win they did!!!

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And thank God THAT'S over for another year. The 6th game , that was a very important one, ran into 11 innings and wasn't over til after midnight. You know those ballplayers were running on adrenaline last night, when they beat the Texas Rangers 6-2. It was a thing of beauty. I wish my dear old dad had been around to see it--he was a diehard Cards fan.

We're not real big on sports in this house. We watch my husbands Packers play now and again...and we might catch something here or there, but mostly...well, NOT. I think he does secretly watch hockey when I'm not home, but if I catch him at it, he acts like it's no big deal. But we do watch the Super Bowl, or at least some of it. This time we watched the playoffs as well as all 7 games of the series itself.

AND IT WAS *A*W*E*S*O*M*E*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm having a bit of a domestic engineering day here. The husband and son are finishing the demolition job they started yesterday on the old 1975 pop-up camper that is made almost entirely of metal. The canvas was shot (rotted--for godssakes, it's 36 years old!!!) and you can buy new canvas for them, but it's about 1500.00 which is ridiculous, since we paid 300 dollars for the darned thing. lol We got a few good years of camping out of it, and I mended and patched it as much as I could until it was just beyond repair. So...bye-bye. And of course the male members are suited to tearing things apart and up and out...so they're in hog heaven. lol Yesterdays work netted them about 80 bucks at the scrap yard which they split. They were both happy as clams.

We went out for Indian food last night and had a nice dinner of prawn masala and a chicken coconut curry and basmati rice. Lots of garlic naan and Daal and it was wonderful, as usual. We went b y our [sort of] local health food store, a great place called Green Earth Grocery and I picked up some baking yeast and spices and a block of tofu...then we went to Mr. Curry's for supper and home to watch the game. Date night for old people. lol

Tonight and tomorrow night I will be staying the night at MissB's. Not looking forward to it particularly, but blessed with the extra money right now. Tomorrow we will go to a lunch at noon for a friends 40th surprise birthday luncheon...hope I am functioning. I usually can sleep some at her house, but you never know what kind of night she will have. Hopefully it will all go without a hitch.

Thanks everyone for your kind words regarding my little emotional storm the other night. I did look at obits from his local newspaper, but found nothing. Might look again today. It is what it is and I know that these connections are strong enough to withstand distance and time and situations. And Murr--you're right. They do come and go.

We had a light frost this morning--cold when I got up. I think it's supposed to warm back up again the next few days. I was thinking since the boys are out working maybe I'd make that potato soup I never got around to yet... mostly because it's quick and easy....

*~*~*~*~Okay. The soup is on, the compost bucket emptied. The floors are as done as they're gonna get today. Laundry in the dryer is about ready to come out and the washer has stopped. One more load of his nasty work clothes, which will probably wait until tomorrow when I have the clothes he has on now. Gonna straighten up the couches and chairs slipcovers' and call it a day.

It's a really beautiful fall day out there, 57 degrees and sunny. High of 61 today. Think I'll go back out to the garden and pick some more green beans and peas.

BTW--Anybody ever freeze greens?? I have some beautiful turnip greens that need to come out of the ground soon and hate to not be able to use all those greens. The chickens will love some and the compost will love some...but I love some too!!!! lol

Have a grand day. I plan to....

Namaste.

Have you ever....

2011-10-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

...been driving the road home, and suddenly just lose it? There was a song playing on the radio that was the song my ex-husband used to sing to me.."you are the woman that I've always dreamed of...I knew it from the start...." and I just burst out crying. And I cried for about 15 minutes...for lost love and for broken dreams and for all the things we would never know about each other growing old. I felt like somebody slammed their fist into my solar plexus and it took the wind out of me. And I thought "He has died." And it opened a big hole in my heart that I thought time and new love had closed. If he has indeed died, it would be of alcoholism, and no one will bother to ever tell me, I'm afraid. I haven't laid eyes on him in over 16 years. I did speak to him once, about 10 years ago, and the conversation was so painful that I never did it again. We separated when I got sober, when I was 37 years old, almost 22 years ago. And for a while there tonight, the pain was as raw as it was then.

Do our hearts ever heal when they break down the middle? Does the yearning ever stop and the wistfulness subside?

I have made a good life for myself with a good man. And that is beside the point.

I have been having more and more minor psychic experiences again...small de ja vu's and a sense of someone or something hovering at the edge of my consciousness. Perhaps this is more of that. Perhaps not. I am reminded of the part of the story of Daughters of Copper Woman (I think) where the shimmering cords that connect her to everyone who has ever been part of her life manifest and oh, hell...I cannot think straight right now...it's after 1 AM and I should be in bed. Maybe tomorrow I can finish this or wake up a little more enlightened and sure of what I'm even talking about or remembering.

Maybe. Or maybe not.

Goodnight.

A tisket, a tasket...a green and yellow basket....

2011-10-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

Ah...autumn. The harvest season winds down and ...oh, WAIT!! What's that? Green beans and pea pods and turnips and kale and squash STILL coming out of my garden ??? LOL. What a lucky girl I am.

***********************

Oh my. It's been a hectic few days around Honeysuckle Hill. The root canal was a financial nightmare. The cost--$1000.00. Amount insurance paid-- $530.00...amount we paid--THE OTHER 50% !! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

and--when he got home, I says to him-how's it feel? And he says still really numb. I says surely, the post they put in for the crown would require that. And he says to me-no, no, they didn't do that. I have to go back to MY dentist for that. (Note: today is Friday. Evening). I am , of course, incredulous. SO, this mouth is going to heal and then they will do it all over again ? And he says, no, he told me to call IMMEDIATELY so that it doesn't heal first.

Naturally, I fall over in a dead faint, because A) I have never seen anything like this and B) Here comes another 500 dollar bill. If I just killed him before he could make the appointment, I could actually make a profit.

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The roof endeavor has been almost finished, he says there is one more small area that he will finish himself next weekend. In the meantime, my entire back deck is full of debris..shingles, plywood, all the stuff they ripped off the roof. Just laying there, waiting for me to trip over. I would cry, but it will just make my face look funnier than it does now.

This next weekend I have to do 2 overnighters with MissB, as someone is taking a trip east. I hate it, although the extra dineros will be a blessing. I must be getting old. I don't like sleeping away from home much anymore. lol

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Well. I don't know how that got started, but there it is. lol

It's supposed to get up to 85 today here. Weird weather for October. But then it's seesawing down to 38 then back up to 60 and OH MY! I can't keep up.

We figured out how the raccoon was getting in after it killed a second chicken. This time (luckily) it was the old Rhodie that I've been expecting to leave this planet for some time, but somehow never would die. We'd be SURE that today would be it, and then it would rally. We named it Lazarus. At any rate the 'coon got it, by climbing up the sides of the run, going under the tarp that acts as a rain shield, and then pulling the wire apart so it could get through. We are now putting the hens up for the night and locking the door, as well as reinforcing the coon door. sigh.... Guess they'll have to go back to stealing cat and dog food (which I am putting up every night as well)....and maybe they'll give up and move on. That would be best.

I watch the dramas unfolding around me and think that I am blessed to have a simple life. I know that I have some skills that will enable my survival for a while, and I know that no matter what happens, I am not a victim. Looking around, I know that we could downsize our life a lot more than we already have and be the better for it. We do have our ups and downs here, but nothing like it is for some folks. One reason for that is that we already know how to live poor. lol It's much easier to have to cut out cable tv and dinners out, than it is to lose your 1200/month home. Or to have to have your car payment on your Ford scrape the bottom of your account this month, than to lose the Mercedes you've paid a lot for but are nowhere near paying off. I'm just saying, the simple life does make things a lot, well, simpler. And it really helps you keep everything in perspective. I have enough food put by to feed us. We have food for the animals. We have kerosene lamps at the ready, filled with oil and another bottle of oil at hand. We have an emergency heat source (kerosene heater) for emergencies. We have candles. We have a pond teeming with fish, a good source of food protein. We have clothes and coats and shoes and we have an abiding love and respect for one another. I see a lot of couples who don't even seem to like each other most of the time, and I understand that, but if you don't treat each other with respect, you've got a problem. Love and respect go hand in hand...whether you're talking about the marriage or the Mother Earth or whatEVER.

Alrighty then. . I'm off into the day, trying to remember to have faith that all will be okay, and that I will do my best to try to be kind. I shall go out and try to pick beans and maybe make a sandwich for himself for supper. Something that travels, as he has his discussion group tonight. That means he must rush home shower frantically, grab whatever food I leave for him, and fly out the door to get to the group, which is 25 miles away. Not my idea of a good time....

Be well--and let's look for the light in one another today, okay?

Namaste.

Friday already ??

2011-10-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

This week flew by. Partly because I spent my Thursday driving back and forth to see my new great nephew and his folks about an hour and a half away. He's 8 weeks old now and absolutely precious. Holding his head up and smiling and just a wonderful big baby boy. I made a tied fleece crib quilt for him and tried to get one finished for his big sister Moriah, but my hands hurt too much from doing the first one. I told her I would get it finished and mail it to her. She is probably more excited about getting mail than she is even about the blanket (which will have princesses on it). lol My nephew told me last night that she went around all day telling everyone that HER aunt is making HER a blankie of her very own. lol She is 4.

I also had to work a sleepover shift in the middle of the week. That was 15 hours, home for 7 and back for 5 more. I was exhausted. Anyway, I'm glad to get a chance this morning to get around and read some blogs and post a little too.

We lost a chicken last night. One of the Buff Orpingtons was pulled through the fence and demolished. Spine, pelvis, feet were left. It was a horrible mess. What upsets me most is that last night in the middle of the World series game, I thought I heard something out there and muted the tv and strained to listen, but thought I was hearing things. sigh....It's not the first chicken we've lost, and probably won't be the last. Part of the heartbreak of homesteading is losing animals in one form or another..such is life.

I'm in the middle of chores...laundry, housecleaning and need to make a grocery run for a few staples like oatmeal and butter and brown sugar. The Irishman has a dentist appointment for a root canal this afternoon, so it looks like soup for supper tonight. Hard telling what it's going to be like, they may do everything at once or they may do it in 2 appointments. Because of our dental network, he has to drive an hour away to do it. It's ridiculous.

I'm moving slow...it got down to freezing last night and is supposed to hit 37 tonight. Then it swings into a warm-up again and night temps will be up in the 50's. The Irishman is out there cleaning up more garden spots, pulled out the last of the bell peppers. The tomatoes are still showing and flowering, but the 'maters are small and most are green, though I brought in about 5 ripe ones (smallish) the day before yesterday. Guess I'll go check the washer and think about some lunch for him before he leaves. Another day in the life of the hapless housewife...

Been a "tough times at money high" these past few weeks. Property taxes, roof repairs, dental work and an outrageous electric bill from October. Sigh...still, all in all, we manage to squeak through from one month to the next and I am grateful that we do it. This is a time in history where lots of people are in a bad way, again. I'm reading Independence Days, and she was talking about the progression of things through the Great Depression, and how, contrary to what most of us believe, it didn't happen over night. And that worries me, since the book was written in 2008 and so far, she's been spot on. And the Republicans have killed another jobs bill. And the world sits and watches and wonders. And Quaddafhi has been killed. Or Gadhafi. Or Kaddafi. How DO you spell that man's name? Everywhere I look, it seems to be spelled differently. I just read an article about the 7 weirdest things about him, one was that he had a huge crush on Condi Rice, and that she went to visit him in 2008 and he gave her like 200,000 dollars worth of gifts and kept a photo album of pictures of her. Now, baby...THAT is weird. And the GOP is pissed that the Dems want to keep the Bush tax cuts only for people making under 200K a year and none with higher incomes. And there's a baby girl missing in Kansas City. And I am ready to hunt down and kill whichever cat keeps peeing in my laundry room on the new floor. And the earth moves around the sun. And so it goes.

Well, another Friday lunch over with, tuna fish sandwiches with fresh ripe sliced tomatoes on the side. O.M.G. Were they ever good. I will miss summer with it's bounty and fresh smelled grass smells and flowers blooming everywhere. I'm going to take a little drive today, just me and Roxie, and the way home I will stop for some groceries. I'll take in some fall colours and I'll mourn the passing of the season of play and move into the season of hunker-down. I'll keep my fingers crossed that we don't have to pay more than $400.oo for this root canal and that things will continue on the way they are supposed to...me in the thick of it, working and playing, living and loving. Trying to keep my place in the balance...and being ever grateful for the things I have and more compassionate to those who don't have what I do.

To have the chance to live with a giving heart, a sunny countenance and the love of family and friends. To be able to make my way in this mine field of a world and still see the beauty of it. To live well, love much and laugh often.

Namaste.

A new week...ready--set--GOOooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-10-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

Feeling a little old today, lol. But grateful to be on this side of the dirt and still having fun.

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I've been out in the garden, pulling up the parsley plants by the roots to hang in the back pantry to dry. Also pulled 2 large brown grocery bags of basil (2 whole plants of one type) and a lot of small branches and tons of leaves from the rest. We have some cold weather heading our way this week and I'm trying to NOT leave everything until the last minute. Still need to get the heat lamp connected in the henhouse, the covers for the beans and peas at the ready, and the last of the green tomatoes picked. The turnips are looking really good, as is the kale. I picked another mess of young green beans today. This cold snap is only supposed to last a couple of days, and then back up to 50 degrees at night. At least that's what they're saying...

I've been busy in the kitchen all morning, making spaghetti sauce and Italian bread for supper. The bread is in the pan and will go in the oven in about an hour or so. Cutting it way too close for my liking. I haven't cooked the pasta yet, but will do that in a bit. I may go to MissB's an hour late today. There's salad left from last night's meatloaf supper, so that will round it out and make a nice meal. The house smells like basil and oregano and yeast...mmmmm.....(Of course, my hands smell like basil...lol)

Had a nice chat with someone today who's going through some personal stuff...--aren't we all? lol Another friend is marking the anniversary of her son's suicide, and every year, my heart goes out to her. I cannot imagine that anguish and hope I never have to know that kind of emotional and psychic pain. I started my morning holding her in my heart and envisioning her surrounded by love and healing light.

I was thinking today that I have so much to be truly grateful about in my life...when I'm having a rough day, I try to make a list of 10 things in my life I am grateful. That helps to pivot the feelings of powerlessness and loss. It changes my perspective to focus on what I do have, rather than what I don't have. Today on my Facebook page, someone posted a thing that said: Don't dwell on those who held you down. Cherish those who lift you up.

I like it. No reason to waste my time in the negative hallways of this life. What is--IS. Making the best of what I have, making the most of what timeI have left. DAMN! If only I'd known this when I was 17....lol

Our St. Louis Cardinals are in the World Series. They won Game 5 last night against the Milwaukee Brewers and that was that. It was hard watching those guys from the losing team...the disappointment on their faces almost made me cry. But then, I changed my mind about it. The team, and their manager and coaches all just walked off the field to their dressing rooms. Nobody came over and congratulated the winning team and I got a little fired up. What has happened to sportsmanship? The Irishman says he's not sure professional teams do that anymore. I say bullsh*t. It's inexcusable.

And that's about the extent of the news from here. Except that I had my panties in a wad yesterday because the man who lives behind me, across the pond, was shooting shotguns for over 3 hours, terrifying me and all my animals. I was livid. Patrick says he thinks that he shoots clays over the pond. That was supposed to make me feel better??? That puts it even MORE in the direction of my house. I despise guns.

I've heated up the last of the lentil soup from last week and am having that for lunch. Hope you have something good too.

Namaste.