This 'n' That

It's been a few days since I've written on my blog.  I have many excuses but the main one is I didn't know what I wanted to write about.  I've had many things on my mind yet each one wasn't enough to write in a whole blog so I decided to write about this 'n' that!

First on my mind are my struggles (and I say struggles) with my weight.  Now that I am a "menopausal" woman I have no metabolism to speak of.  I know this and I know what I need to do.  Watch what I eat and exercise.  Can it be any simpler than that? 

Last year I went on a strict vegan diet, exercised religiously and lost 30 lbs. in five months.  Come January, for some unknown, insane reason, my brain convinced me I was tired of exercising.  I was no longer on the strict vegan diet, but I remained a vegetarian.  That opened up my culinary world to my biggest love which is cheese.  Any kind of cheese and eggs and ice-cream and all those high fat delicious foods.  I've gained back 12 pounds, so needless to say, I'm back on track.  I'm back to exercising but I will remain on a more realistic vegetarian diet with primarily high fiber foods.  Wish me luck!

Another thing on my mind is menopause.  The root cause of my slow metabolism, mood swings and I know my increased craving for sweets. (I didn't used to have a big sweet tooth when I was younger).  I look at this word and see men - o - pause, which I take to mean take a break from men or as my husband might think, he needs to pause (or take a break) from me.  Is that how you see it?

It makes sense to me because during this time I never know what kind of mood I'm going to wake up to which is dictated by the kind of night I had.   Then again, I could have slept like a new born kitten on her momma's teat or tossed and turned throwing the covers off and on with hot and cold flashes.  My moods are my moods.  Thus the reason my husband and I need to pause and think before one of us says something, well, stupid!

Enough of that subject and on to something fun.  I've talked about my cats and dogs before.  Today I will give the spotlight to the baby kitten, Annabelle Lee who is four months old now and as cute as she can be.  She is at that age where she thinks all the animals are her personal best friends forever.  However, the older cats have pretty much put her in her place because they are not in the mood to romp and roll around with her.  Merlin and Missy are younger and will play with her for about a minute.  Then there is our one year old dog Clarke.  Those two can play and romp for a little bit until Clarke wants to start treating her like one of his stuffed animals.  That's when Annabelle has had enough!

All in all, if I am in "one of my moods" all I have to do is sit down for a few minutes and watch these innocent and lovely gifts from heaven.  God knows what I need because they will lower my blood pressure, calm my nerves and make me laugh out loud!

Annabelle Lee

I have to admit after writing this I am in a much better mood and ready to face this hot, humid Oklahoma day.  Thanks for listening and come back again.  I'd love to hear what's on your mind, too.

Have a blessed and happy day.

SG

New Experiences

I floated down the Illinois river with a group of friends last weekend.    We floated on rafts, kayaks and one couple took a canoe. There were four of us in our raft.  We went 12 miles and it took us 7 hours.  What fun!

This was a new experience for me.  One of my favorite things to do is to experience something new.  When I am going to do something I've never done before, I am nervous.  There is the anticipation of what will be.  Who will I meet?  Will I like it?  Will it be a waste of my time or will it be one of the greatest experiences I've ever had?

However I am also a creature of habit.  I love a routine.  I am most comfortable in familiar surroundings doing what I love.  I love my home, my church and my friends.  I like to plan my days knowing I have control over my life.  Who doesn't?

As I age I find myself more cautious.  I'm not the risk taker I was when I was younger, but that is normal.  But, also as we age we have to be careful about not keeping ourselves active both physically and mentally.  I read recently that it is better to do more than just crossword puzzles to keep the brain stimulated.  The article said to do tasks that forces the brain to do many things like multi-tasking.

My husband I take small camping trips frequently throughout the year.  We camp primarily in our great state of Oklahoma.  Last year we took up geocaching.  We also love to visit museums, antique stores, thrift stores or flea markets.  We never know what is waiting for us around the bend.

This is how I choose to live my days.  I have my wonderful, comfortable and safe routines and I also have my new experiences.  This is how I am aging gracefully or if you saw me on the river raft, not so gracefully!

A Garden Story

I have a confession to make.  I share my garden with, wait for it, wait for it, weeds!  Yes, you heard me right, if weeds were a cash crop, I would have enough money to go to a movie and buy some popcorn and a drink.

I fondly look back on March when I dreamily planned my perfect vegetable garden.  As I planted rows of tomatoes, green beans, pepper plants, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, soybeans, okra and cow peas I envisioned a beautiful organic garden free of weeds and bugs.  I was excited about the new heirloom tomatoes I planted as I harvested delicious strawberries.  Now, I can't even find my strawberry plants.

The cucumber plants are gone, the tomato plants are barren and like the strawberry plants, I can barely see the squash plants.  I have several soybeans on the plants, but I don't know when to harvest them.  You'd think with the world wide web I'd be able to find this out, but I've had no luck on this topic.  My talent on the web equals my ability to keep the weeds away.

However, this winter I will enjoy many jars of pickles and relish, frozen beans and squash, some salsa I canned and delicious jellies I made from blackberries and grapes.  I am still harvesting okra and eggplant which I am eating everyday.  Yum, yum.

I am now now looking forward to the first frost.  Who knows what I'll find after all the weeds die down.  Just wait until next year.  I will have a perfect, weed-free garden with mulched rows so beautiful I will be able to tip toe through the squash and tomato plants barefoot.

Have a beautiful and blessed day everyone and may you feel the presence of the good Lord with you always.

My French Affair

We bought a new refrigerator this weekend.  You'd think it would be simple, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

I started looking at 'fridges on Thursday when our old one broke.  I went to two major home repair stores and the base exchange store.  They had many choices ranging in prices from as low as around $700 to as high as $2800.  Wow!

As I looked at all the different styles and features, I started to form relationships with them.  The ones I really became attached to were the three door style where the doors on the top are called french doors and they have a big, deep freezer drawer on the bottom.  I thought "Ooo LaLa" how exotic.  That cinched my decision on this style.  Then I would be worldly and maybe I'll learn french so my new refrigerator won't get homesick.

That was the easy part.  Next came the emotional attatchments I formed with each one.  It was like buying a house.  There is not one that has everything you want.  You have to compromise.

There was one style that puffed cold air into the door where you would keep the milk.  I wanted to marry that one, but I'm already spoken for.

I swooned over the one with the separate long drawer accesible from the outside to cut down on opening the doors as much when you wanted fruit or snacks or juicy juice.  But, alas, that's not a problem in our home since we don't have little human ones around and it is not a feature we need for our furry creatures.

Then the honeymoon was over when I went shopping on Saturday with my husband.  I had to clean up my act.  No more fantasing over what could have been and, well, realizing I had a budget.  Oh, I still got my sweet french refrigerateur but not with as many "bells and whistles" as my dreamboats. 

Just as in any relationship there are compromises and I see a  long and happy one with my new french friendship.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my mother's birthday.  She is 83 years old.  That is amazing to me because it may sound like a lot of years, but when you see her and people her age, it doesn't seem like it. 

I am hosting a birthday luncheon for her today.  She is very excited about it.  She told me this morning that she used to dread her birthdays, but now she is excited about them.

I found this statement interesting.  As we age we change how we perceive things.  Take driving for example.  I used to be in a lot more hurry than I am now.  If I have to be somewhere at a specific time, I try to allow myself enough time to get there.  If I am running late, it just doesn't bother me as much.  When I am running errands, I don't care about all the other people who want to pass me.  Sometimes I pull over to let them by. 

Another thing, I forget things more often now.  This isn't a big deal because it's short term memory loss I have.  I have lived long enough to have a lot in my memory files.  I don't need to add a lot of unnessary and useless things in my mind.  I'll save what space I have left for more important things like my husband's name, my name, today's date, you know what I mean!

Hopefully, with the grace of God, I, too will live to see 83 and hopefully I'll be as bright and spry as my mother.

Happy Birthday Mom.  I Love You.

Baby It's Hot Outside

August has to be one of my least favorite times of the year.  It's not only hot, but it's also that time between summer and fall when plants are dying down no matter how much you water them.  It's too hot to spend much time outside and needless to say, all my gardens are being overrun by unwanted weeds.  Alas, what's a girl to do?

On the bright side I can look at the jars of pickles, relishes and jellies I've made.  I can see the bags of vegetables in the freezer and know I will still be enjoying my bounty in the long cold months ahead.  That thought alone cools me down a little!

Today I am making grape jelly and kosher dill pickles.  The grapes were harvested from an Aunt and Uncle's yard and the cucumbers are still producing in my garden.  I am just now getting delicious okra and I am looking forward to harvesting some soybeans.

Our tomato plants are history along with the green beans and squash.  Our pepper plants might bounce back when the weather cools down.

This morning I joined the sisterhood of farmgirls at the Mary Jane Farms magazine and website.  This is a wonderful and fun magazine that shares other farmgirls days and provides tips on gardening, crafts, decorating and recipes.  It is the best magazine ever!  I can't wait to start earning badges.

Okay, now I feel better.  August doesn't seem so bad to me now.  I will get up and get to work on my jelly and pickles.  Did I say work?   I should say blessings. 

Have a cool and blessed day.

I Live In an Animal House

Yes, you heard me right.  I live in a house with eight cats and two dogs.  Does that make me one of those crazy "cat/dog" people?  I hope not!

It's not as bad as it sounds.  We have a nice clean home.  There is a separate room where we keep the cat's "bathrooms" and their food.  The room has a cat door so they can come and go and it keeps the dogs out of their area.

Each animal has their own story.

Our oldest dog, Lewis is a german shepard mix we adopted from a bar.  Yes, a pool playing, dart thowing people drinking and smoking bar my husband and I were in several years ago where a lady showed up with two puppies.  We had just lost an older dog and wanted a companion for our other dog.  He is named after C.S. Lewis. 

Our second dog, Clarke, is a rescue we got while camping last Memorial Day weekend.  He is a chihauha/daschund mix someone dumped at the campsite.  He has fit into his new home so well, it is like he has always been here. 

So now we have two dogs named Lewis and Clarke!

The cats are all rescue cats. They are in order of age, Bageera, Beau and Athena (brother and sister), Crystal, Missy and Merlin (brother and sister), and GiGi and her baby Annabelle Lee.

Bageera came from a rescued cat who had kittens, Beau and Athena were rescued from a college campus, Crystal was adopted from a parking lot and the last four were rescued from my neighborhood.

Now that I have introduced you all to my animal kingdom, you will hear more about them in upcoming posts.  They all have unique pesonalities and quirks.  There is never a dull moment in this home full of furry love and wet kisses.