"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Saturday, November 30, 2013

I Vant To Be Alone

Finally, I think to myself.

It's Friday.

Black Friday they call it.

They couldn't be more wrong.

It's Finally Friday for me. 

It's the day after Thanksgiving where...if I'm lucky...SM takes off for a long weekend up in Ohio.

And I get to be alone.





Alone with my thoughts.

Alone with the TV remote.

Alone to fall asleep at 7pm and get up at 3am.

No. 
Wait. 
I do that anyway whether SM is here or not.  (sigh...freakin hormones)

Where was I?

Oh yeah...Alone!

Well, almost alone. 

I do have 3 pairs of doggie eyes following me everywhere I go.

I tried to push SM out the door on Tuesday but he had things to do. 

How about Wednesday early, Hm? 

Nope.

SM wanted to get new front tires on the minivan before he left for Ohio.

How about after Thanksgiving dinner?  He's done that plenty of times before. 

Oh, that's right.  We're heading over to his Sister's around 4pm Thanksgiving day.

So Friday it is. 

Finally!  It's Friday!  Yeah me! 

I have three...count em...THREE whole days to my lonesome.





But I'll be busy, trust me.  I have a long list of to do's that need doing.  Everything from picking up frozen dog crap in the yard to cleaning carpets.  From decorating for Christmas to giving Scooter a haircut.

So while I get to revel in the silence that is "just me" this weekend, SM gets to eat, drink and be merry with his friends and family.

It's a win-win for both of us don'tcha think?

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Home



Where ever you are, whatever you're doing, stop for a sec and remember who you are and where you came from.  

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!


Monday, November 25, 2013

Jaws

"Whatcha got planned for today?"  SM asks me as he sits with a cuppa joe at the kitchen table.  He's blinking as the morning sun is streaming in through the blinds I've already opened.

Sunshine is a precious commidty to me now that the dark days are here.  I let the sun warm up the kitchen every chance I get.

I shrug at his inquiry, saying "Well, nothing set in stone.  No big projects planned.  Stuff."  I say pausing as I move through the kitchen.  "I'll find stuff to do."

"Yeah, you're like a shark.  Always moving."  SM tosses out taking a sip of coffee.

I laugh.  "Actually, that's a pretty good observation.  I never thought about it before but you're right.  I am always moving.  Until I'm not.  Then I crash."

I'm taking this as a compliment folks.  I've never been called a shark before but I suppose there are worse things to be called.





Sunday, November 24, 2013

Walking With The Big Dogs

I try to walk 3 miles every morning now. 

The first mile is a sniffy mile with the dogs.  Start and stop.  Tug and pull.  After that first mile, I toss the pups back in the house and head out for 2 more at a higher pace. 

Yesterday, while standing at the neighborhood fire hydrant while my dogs collected their sniffy mail, I heard a "meow". 

I shined my flashlight down the street.  I see kitty eyed reflections coming towards me at a fast trot. 

Callie Cat wants to walk with the big dogs.

She's done this twice now over the past month.  I'm not sure where she comes from but the next thing I know she hops into the pack causing the dogs to come to a dead stop sniffing her and then she playful leaps back out.  She mostly walks behind us but occasionally darts out in front causing the dogs to lunge after her in chase mode.  If we get too far ahead, we hear her meow.  Then we stop and pause giving her a chance to catch up. 

Each time she's been with us she's walked the full mile around, then comes in the house for her meal, then sacks out.

So if you see this strange lady walking three dogs and a cat down the street give her a wide berth.  She's got her hands full.

Animals are amazing aren't they? 

This is the same cat that only a few months ago wouldn't allow the dogs within ten feet of her hunched up, slit eyed, spitting self. 

And look at her now. 






Saturday, November 23, 2013

Radio Head



I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before but I have this little quirk. 

I wake up every day, every day, with a song playing in my head. 

Sometimes it's the same song playing for several days in a row. 

Once, I remember "We All Live In A Yellow Submarine" played in my head for several months in a row.

I've gotten so used to it that I don't think about it much anymore but this morning I woke up with "Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" playing in my head.

What? 

Who sings that? 

I swear I haven't heard this song in years.  I rarely listen to country.  I'm mostly an NPR girl these days with some classic rock tossed in on the side.

Where does it come from? 
Do I have an antenna in my head? 
If I turned the radio on right now, would that song be playing?

These are the questions in life that I need answered!!!

Please tell me I'm not the only one out there with this weird condition.

On the other hand, it is a nice song. 

I suppose it could be worse. 

I could be waking up to Metallica or Ozzie Osbourne. 

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Hiatus

I ran out and bought some winter flowers yesterday. 




Pansies for the back deck.




Lots of spring bulbs which I tossed in the fridge.  (I like to ensure that the bulbs experience the cold spell that allows them to bloom.) 

It appears that we should have a cold winter this year, (37 this morning) but last year winter was fairly warm with a colder spring so I'll leave them in the fridge for now and plant them out later. 

I do want to take many of these and force them inside to brighten my winter doldrums.




Two amaryllis kits.  I bought these at Walmart for $7.  One is a bright Christmas red and the other a pretty orange.  Bulb, dirt and moss all inside the pot.  Good enough to start with. 

I didn't know that amaryllis will bloom for 7-10 weeks.  YeeHah!  I also didn't know that, with a little care on my part, the bulbs can regenerate and bloom year after year.  I just assumed they would be like a tulip.  One and done for the most part.

This got me to thinking about regeneration, renewal and restoration.  SM and I sat here at the kitchen table talking about how pretty the fall colors are this year.

"I'd really miss this."  I told SM.  "The change of seasons I mean."  SM knows how hard the dark days are for me.

"Springs a long way off." 

"Yeah, but if you didn't have winter, I wonder if you'd appreciate  spring as much."



I'll be taking a self imposed hiatus myself the next few weeks.  I'll be shipping my laptop to HP this week.  They say the "bench repair" will take about 2 weeks max. 

And that's OK. 

I have computer access at work but their firewall prevents me from seeing blogs and such. 

SM is on our home computer most of the time for his work.  I'm sure he's OK with sharing in the meantime but (since my posts have been less than stimulating lately), I think I'll take a break from all things blogish while my laptops away.  Maybe I need a bit of time to regenerate too.

See ya in a few weeks!


Saturday, November 2, 2013

Sweet Observations

*Callie Cat should have been my first cat.  She is just the sweetest thing.  She has never bit or scratched me.  Never fusses too much if I have to wipe her down or trim matted hair off her because she's rubbed up against some tree sap like I did yesterday.

This week, I spent a delightful morning getting ready for work while she chased her tail in the bathtub, then hopped up into the sink and played with a dribble of water out of the tap.




She's part of the pack now.  She and Ginny will race down the hallway.  She flops herself over and lets all the dogs sniff her purring the whole time.  She lets us sleep, never meowing in the middle of the night for attention.  Now that the weather's turning I find her sleeping in the house overnight.

She really can't be called the freakin cat anymore.  She's just adorable.  Don't tell the dogs but if she'd have come around first, I might have become a cat lady. @:)


*I am going to have a fun time getting used to "Falling Back" this week.  I've gotten used to sleeping when I can.  I don't fight it.  You learn not to.  Some nights I sleep pretty well.  Some nights, eh...not so much.  I've been falling asleep by 8pm and up at 3 or 4am lately.  Fun week ahead!  You really wouldn't think that an hour more or less would make much of a difference but it does.


*Baking for a diabetic is fun.  SM is in the mood for chewy baked goods.  I've been playing around with some cookie recipes this month.  He tells me that they're tasty enough but he wants a "chewy" cookie. 




I've been baking with Splenda and avoiding brown sugar, honey and molasses which all help provide "the chew" factor.  I tell him he's just going have to get used to a lighter cookie. 

In the meantime, I've been making these apple crisps with some Granny Smiths we bought at the farmers market.  Definite chew factor here.




Here's the link to the recipe I've been using.  Two thumbs up from SM.

*Speaking of apples, I've been saucing every weekend slowly working through the bushes we bought.  The freezer has 21 quarts last count.  I'm hoping to make another couple of batches this weekend which should bring me up to my goal of 30 quarts  for the freezer.

*I'm wanting some winter flowers.  I think I'm going to buy some pansy's for the back porch and also get some amaryllis and tulip bulbs.   Years ago I forced some paper whites over the winter.  Man, were they stinky.  Oddlyenough, I've never done amaryllis or tulips.  Since the hard frost last week, I've really missed having flowers in the house.

*Coconut oil is my new best friend.  I admit to being addicted to the Dermalogica skin care line.  I've used it for over 10 years now with great results but it's expensive.  Ka-Ching.  I wondered about natural alternatives.

I was reading an article about using natural oils on the skin.  I tried olive oil years ago but didn't like the lingering smell.  I bought some coconut oil several weeks ago and started using it.  So far, so good.  My skin has never looked better.  I was concerned about acne on my face with the oil clogging my pores but that hasn't happened.  Supposedly, coconut oil has antibiotic properties.  It's pretty oily stuff until absorbed but with wearing winter clothing, I don't worry about it. 

Not sure I would use this over the summer months though.  We'll see. 

Friday, November 1, 2013

Benched

I had a prompt on my laptop this week.

"Want to upgrade to Windows 8.1?"

These sorts of things should not be offered to a middle aged, menopausal, slightly sleep deprived woman at 4 in the morning.

I thought "Sure" and started the download and took off for my morning rounds with the dogs. 

Back inside, still downloading. 

Showered and blow dried, still downloading.

By this time SM is up.  "Whatcha doing?"

I explained what I'd done. 

SM started shaking his head.  "I wouldn't if I were you."

"Well, it's more than halfway done."  I blew him off thinking Microsoft and I knew best.

HA!

Download complete, I now discover that my ability to interact with my mouse and keyboard has been severely compromised.  As in I have to click (or tap) my mouse on the screen every few seconds in order to be engaged.  Typing or scrolling through an article is an every few second thing.

I had Friday off so I spent most of the morning with Microsoft and HP tech support.  Bottom line is that they're both pointing their fingers at each other.




So after trying several fixes I asked HP to help me do a system recovery.  I don't have that much on here that I'd loose sleep over loosing it. 

Turns out that I don't have a recovery platform on this computer. 

Huh?  (I might not have been born yesterday...)

Whatever...

HP danced around that issue a bit blaming 8.1 but in the end I pointed out that I'm under warranty till the end of the month, so HP is going to do a "bench repair" where I ship my laptop to HP and they bring it back to normal.

Lesson learned. 

Next time I'll be getting a Mac.