Wednesday December 9, 2009

One of my favorite Santas...
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It is just plain cold. 15 with a wind chill factor of -3 now. I have 2 cats outside that won't come in and I guess I just have to leave them there to ...do whatever cats do in the bitter cold. I am powerless over cats... every so often, I go to the door and open it to see if they've changed their
minds. The house is relatively warm, but I can see we're going to have to get the insulating plastic up on the windows this weekend. I have big heavy drapes in the living room and that helps a lot. But the bedrooms need them too and so does the kitchen window need a covering. It needs an old fashioned window quilt. It's a big square window.

I have stayed close to the heating pad today, and taken it very easy on myself. Things are still icky, but not quite as bad as yesterday. I only went outside twice today, as the cold is certainly a mitigating factor in all this. I had to get out there this morning and water the chickens and try to manage a way to keep that coop door open in this horrific wind. We have had 35-45 mph winds all day. And I paid some bills and got those out in the mail box. Did all that in one roundabout. Then later I was out again becasue my idea didn't really work all that well with the coop door and it closed again. The last time I got it good. And it was time to pick up the mail, so I trudged down to the mailbox and then came in for good. It's brutal out there.


I made a wonderful Indian dish for supper tonight. Vegetarian nights always require a little more thought and imagination. I have a recipe for an Aloo Gobi that I make from time to time, especially on cold nights, as it's a great comfort food. It is also a carbohydrate extravaganza nightmare (thus the comfort part). But it's lovely...you heat the oil and toast whole cumin seeds to start, and then put in cauliflower broken into bite sized pieces. You stir it, letting the cauliflower get a little golden brown here and there. You put in a little water and cover, letting the cauliflower cook to a crisp-tender stage. Then you add cooked diced potatoes, ground cumin, turmeric, coriander, chopped green chilies, fresh ground black pepper and sea salt. Cook it just til the potatoes are heated through, and serve. Tonight I also added a little lemon curry and the result was marvelous. I served it with a side of organic romaine lettuce with some thinly sliced fresh mushrooms, sliced white and red radishes from our cold frame box, a few pickled green beans and a tiny bit of dressing. I used a Caesar dressing tonight. It made for an appetizing and satisfying supper, for me and the working man. And the house smelled wonderful...


Tomorrow night we will attend the anniversary of a group around these parts that has been going strong for 47 years. What a testament to the program! What a blessing. I have to make some kind of a salad to take...something/anything to go with sloppy joes for the potluck. I have lots of pasta...maybe I'll do something along those lines.


I'm sipping a cup of honey chamomile tea and getting wound down enough to head for bed soon. I changed my chiro appt to Friday with different Chiropractor. One recommended by a friend, who does cold laser therapy for joints. It's an interesting concept, and I'm game to try anything. Her fiance had gone to this guy and he worked wonders. So....I'm a gonna try him out. It's only one day difference....and this weather is treacherous, so I'd rather not be driving at 5 AM anyway to take hubby to work so I can keep the car.



It's been a long and emotional day. I am hanging in there and am thinking about going to an Alanon meeting next week. One of my friends thinks it might be good for me. I shall give it a go...

Hopefully tomorrow I will get some more things done here and get busy working on a couple of the gifts that I need to make. I am making herbal dream pillows for a couple of people and some God boxes that need painting. The pillows are pretty cool...I am also making a couple of those lovely heating pads that are filled with rice and then you heat them in the microwave. A dear friend gave me one a couple of years ago, and I love it. You just sew a tube of cotton material and fill it with rice and sew it shut. Then you take a lovely print flannel and make a long rectangle to fit the tube of rice and put it in. Mine is removeable so you can wash the outer wrapper. It also has an aromatic rice, like jasmine or basmati in it, so it smells wonderful when it heats. Almost all of our gifts this year will be homemade... getting back to the basics of gifts with love, from the heart.

Alrighty. I am off to the warmest room in the house. Under the big comfy quilt and flannel sheets, with my infrared husband next to me. That man puts out more heat than a wood burning stove!


Sweet winter dreams, and blessings on you and your house!


Namaste.