Filed under: Uncategorized
Well, kids… Today is the day. I am posting one last time on this site, and moving on to the Elegant blessings blog for now.
I am writing the same stuff on both places it feels like and so, as much as I like WordPress…blogspot seems to get more play.
Here’s the link…please come follow me at Elegant Blessings
hmmm…can’t seem to make it work.
It’s http://elegantblessings.blogspot.com/
It’s still me. It’s still fun.
C’mon over……
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Gimpy little old ladies, HFCS, High Security
A crazy morning all ’round. My Irishman was late for work, due to shutting off the alarm and failing to get up. He was up twice last night because there were cats fighting outside the bedroom window. Once at 1:30 and again at 3. He doesn’t do well without enough sleep, poor baby. I didn’t go to bed until 4 myself…insomnia again. But I jumped up and packed his lunch and made him an egg sandwich to eat on the road, as he got dressed and called work to say he’d overslept. Then I promptly went back to bed and slept until 9 AM. lol When I got up I had to go to the courthouse and show them the proof of insurance that he couldn’t find when he got pulled over for speeding on the night of my birthday. I hadn’t had any coffee, nearly enough sleep, not any breakfast. You can imagine the delayed surprise when I tried to get through the metal detector at the courthouse and the policeman there laid his hand on his gun and said…”Miss. You cannot bring a knife into thecourthouse.” I turned around and looked behind me, but no…it was ME he was talking to. I had forgotten that I have a 2 inch Swiss Army Knife on my car keychain.He told me to pick it up slowly and take it back out to my car. I almost started giggling. Did he think I was going to use the little tweezers on it to poke his eyes out? Or perhaps the nail file, to file my way through the bars when they arrested me for bringing in my proof of insurance??
I had made a point to take off my knee brace so it wouldn’t set off the metal detectors. I was limping badly and hurting like crazy from walking all the way from the parking lot to the courthouse already. So…I picked it up, walked out the door, took the little knife off and tossed it into the grass and came back in. He eyed me suspiciously, and asked if I had put it where no one would find it. I said Yes sir, I did…I cannot walk all the way back to my car and back here again. So, he let me through and I went on to fight the next dragon…who happened to be working the desk at the State’s Attorney’s Office. sigh…I know that civil servants have a rough row to hoe a lot of the time. I know that people are trying to scam them and get away with shit all the time…but–please. I’m a gimpy little old lady for godssakes. Please. Just take my little paper and dismiss this already!
BY the time I got home I had a headache that wouldn’t quit. I spent the rest of the day holed up in the dark.
So ends another day in the life of a gangster moll….lol
BTW–Timmy…HFCS is high fructose corn syrup. It’s in everything and it’s made from genetically modified corn. It’s bad news, muchacho!
Alrighty then…I’m off to see the wizard. Have to be up early and at the place for the hospital pre-op tests…by 11.
Another day under my belt…
Namaste.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Common Sense, Food Rules, Michael Pollan
This seemed like a good thing to pass on. I think I’ll post it on both blogs, just so it gets some play…Michael Pollan is my new guru…and he has some very common sense stuff to say. Like: “If your great grandmother doesn’t recognize this food…don’t eat it.”
Here are six rules from Michael Pollan’s upcoming book, “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual“:
#11 Avoid foods you see advertised on television.
Food marketers are ingenious at turning criticisms of their products — and rules like these — into new ways to sell slightly different versions of the same processed foods: They simply reformulate (to be low-fat, have no HFCS or transfats, or to contain fewer ingredients) and then boast about their implied healthfulness, whether the boast is meaningful or not. The best way to escape these marketing ploys is to tune out the marketing itself, by refusing to buy heavily promoted foods. Only the biggest food manufacturers can afford to advertise their products on television: More than two thirds of food advertising is spent promoting processed foods (and alcohol), so if you avoid products with big ad budgets, you’ll automatically be avoiding edible foodlike substances. As for the 5 percent of food ads that promote whole foods (the prune or walnut growers or the beef ranchers), common sense will, one hopes, keep you from tarring them with the same brush — these are the exceptions that prove the rule.
#19 If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.
#36 Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
This should go without saying. Such cereals are highly processed and full of refined carbohydrates as well as chemical additives.
#39 Eat all the junk food you want — as long as you cook it yourself.
There is nothing wrong with eating sweets, fried foods, pastries, even drinking soda every now and then, but food manufacturers have made eating these formerly expensive and hard-to-make treats so cheap and easy that we’re eating them every day. The french fry did not become America’s most popular vegetable until industry took over the jobs of washing, peeling, cutting, and frying the potatoes — and cleaning up the mess. If you made all the french fries you ate, you would eat them much less often, if only because they’re so much work. The same holds true for fried chicken, chips, cakes, pies, and ice cream. Enjoy these treats as often as you’re willing to prepare them — chances are good it won’t be every day.
#47 Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
For many of us, eating has surprisingly little to do with hunger. We eat out of boredom, for entertainment, to comfort or reward ourselves. Try to be aware of why you’re eating, and ask yourself if you’re really hungry-before you eat and then again along the way. (One old wive’s test: If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.) Food is a costly antidepressant.
#58 Do all your eating at a table.
No, a desk is not a table. If we eat while we’re working, or while watching TV or driving, we eat mindlessly-and as a result eat a lot more than we would if we were eating at a table, paying attention to what we’re doing. This phenomenon can be tested (and put to good use): Place a child in front of a television set and place a bowl of fresh vegetables in front of him or her. The child will eat everything in the bowl, often even vegetables that he or she doesn’t ordinarily touch, without noticing what’s going on. Which suggests an exception to the rule: When eating somewhere other than at a table, stick to fruits and vegetables.
Reprinted by arrangement with Penguin Group (USA) Inc., from Food Rules Copyright © Michael Pollan, 2009
Namaste.
Ahhh.. a lovely Sunday winding to a close. I am enthroned in my computer chair with a heating pack on my knee, and I have to tell you, it’s so soothing I keep trying to fall asleep! It’s one of those wonderful rice filled ones that goes in the microwave…it’s heavy and hot and yummy….and just feels so good.
Today we had the District 18 GSR meeting. It was lively as usual. I stay busy with AA service structure doins’, and I’ve no doubt it makes my world a better place for me to live. We got home about 3:30…and I got dinner going. And as we ate, we watched Into the Wild, the movie Sean Penn made about Chris McCandless, who lived and died in the wilds of Alaska. It was a moving and tear jerking story…hard at times for this parent to watch.
So, I’m ending this day with a wish for all the world of peace and comfort…especially the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
Namaste.
It’s a grey and warmish day out there. I did a little housekeeping and then plopped my self on the couch to read. Was supposed to have a visitor, but she’s a no call-no show. Have had several phone calls…
Tonight’s a dinner out with friends, unless it cancels at the last minute. The couple in question have a passel of kids, so anything could happen. lol
Husbandman is in the living room, doing Tai Chi along with a new DVD we got. The sounds are particularly soothing…even the woman’s voice is serene, in her narration. I’m going to start it on Monday.
We had a nice bowl of tomato soup along with a peanut butter on whole wheat sandwich for lunch. Just chilly enough today to make that warm soup feel really good in your belly.
Got another beautiful heirloom seed company catalog yesterday from my old high school friend. It is the most gorgeous one I have ever seen (and that includes Shumway’s), is almost a coffee table book quality, and is peppered with all kinds of quotations and stories about peace and real food and sustainability. It’s called Baker Creek Seed Company. I am absolutley in awe. I am excited about spring gardening all over again!!!
I have to cut hubby’s hair this afternoon and do a few other things before getting in the shower and getting ready to go out. I can’t wait to dig in to some fantastic Chinese food tonight!
Namaste.
Ritual is essential, she said.
No. Leave me alone. He tried to crawl off into the adjoining room, But it was no use. She had him. There was no escape.
The smell in the air of burning sweet grass and herbs was making him dizzy. Candlelight glinted off the steel blade. She moved towards him…
A balmy 45 degrees today…this is just too weird. We still, however have at least 3 inches of snow covering our front yard, although the road is finally almost completely clear.It’s almost midnight, and it’s still 41 degrees outside. [Insert Twilight Zone theme song] It’s freaking January, for heavenssakes….
I finished Book One of the trilogy last night., and started on Book Two today. I am shameless….
I actually got myself together and went into town today…went to a noon meeting, ran a couple of errands and had a bite to eat. Came back home, baked a chicken, threw some giant mutant russet potatoes in the oven too. Opened a jar of homecanned green beans and cooked them with some onion , bacon and garlic. Called it a wonderful smelling dinner…Now everything is cleaned up and some critters are outside and some are inside asleep and husbandman is asleep too, so it’s just me and the jazz station from the local University, wailing into the night….
Have to get up early in the morning and head off to a friends to get some sweet potatoes. She grows a gazillion pounds of them every year (apparently) and sells them by the ton. These are mostly seconds, she said. It should be a nice morning of coffee and chatting and catching up. She and I went to high school together..Thought I’d bake a nice little coffee cake or something to take along.
Hmmm…that’s a good idea…
Namaste.
Filed under: Uncategorized
OMG!! It was 40 degrees today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And a nice day for having breakfast for supper, and hacking off my own hair and reading a trashy novel. Well, not exactly trashy, but…Nora Roberts, for godssakes. Apparently she is cashing in on the vampire/demons/magick craze. I don’t think I have ever read any of her books before…I am a biblio snob, I guess, but I have to say, this is great mindless reading. I’m reading Book One of the Sign of Seven Trilogy. There’s plenty of steamy romance stuff in it…I’ve never been one to read this kind of stuff…even as a starry eyed young girl.
9 weeks til spring… Can we make it ???????
Namaste.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Laundry Soap, pups and kits, Wind Turbines
Ah..the end of a long, good day is in sight. It’s been a day full of minor housekeeping chores, 2 small loads of laundry, a visit from my son and some reading.
The boy was here for quite a few hours…he helped me make laundry soap and we had lunch together. He brought his drill and mortar mixer over to mix up the soap…he’s been making it too and has made several batches already and says that when you mix it up with this things, it stays gelled and is much easier to use. He’s coming back over this weekend to work on a wind turbine that he’s going to set up in our backyard. I guess he has the turbine itself built, and it needs to go on about an 8 ft high stand. The neighborhood he lives in has all kinds of rules about what you can do in your yard and how high anything can be…He’s unemployed for the season (union) and has been doing all kinds of experimenting with solar and wind power and is having a ball. We had a great time.
All the pups and kits are sleeping in various parts of the house, and several of them just helped me eat a small bowl of popcorn. I had a sudden craving for salt. lol And air popped, buttered popcorn with sea salt and nutritional yeast just hit the spot. Now they are all sacked out around my feet.
Tomorrow I will go get a haircut I think. It needs to lose about an inch all ’round. Then I have a couple of errands to run and then back home again.
I’m off to write a bit more and then head to bed, hopefully. The knee is keeping me from sleeping much, and I am really exhausted. Tired enough for a good nights sleep, maybe…
Namaste.
I am having furnace glitches tonight…just in the last half hour, of course, after the husbandman has gone to bed. The fan isn’t kicking on in the auto mode, so then the pilot light goes out (a safety feature, I’m sure). Then I have to let the furnace sit for about 10 minutes (turned off) and then turn it back on, relight the pilot and kick the fan on. It’s done this before, that’s why I know what to do. Usually after a couple of cycles, it starts working correctly again and then it’s good for weeks and weeks. Not sure what it is…but I hope it cycles through this time, even though we are having a heat wave right now. It’s 22 degrees at almost 11 PM !!! WooHoo !!
Saw the doc, surgery is set for the 27th and we are good to go. Bad news is-that’s still like over 2 weeks away. But, it will give me time to get ready, I guess. Cook some meals for the freezer, get some laundry soap made and laundry all caught up, etc.
I am finishing off some cashews, and some dark Dove chocolates. Yum…
Feeling a little peevish about some stuff today. Nothing serious, just some day to day stuff. I know there’s always a lesson in there for me, and I’m trying to stay on top of it. Some days I just seem to have no patience for people and their personal brand of bs. Today was that day. lol
The snow is starting to melt a little, though up here in God’s country we still have about 4x as much as anybody else. Detour Road is hellish in spots, and now things are getting slushy. But the sun was brilliant today and the skies were blue (most of the day)…and that goes a long way in winter.
I looked out the back window and saw the irises long slender leaves poking up through the snow. You cannot kill those bad boys. I planted a lot of them last summer, a gift from someone tearing them all out and throwing them away. They’re planted all along the bottom of the rock wall and along the south side of the house. Planted them, in places I have trouble mowing. Pretty genius, eh?
Alright. I am off to do some more writing and then check my emails and get on with the night.
Namaste.
