Monday, April 11, 2011

Week 5 of yoga :(

I didn't do week 5.  I am a quitter.  I'm feeling pretty low about this.  I started out, as I start almost everything, with the best of intentions.  And then I quit.  I haven't done a yoga practice in a week.  I haven't meditated in two weeks.  I did do the three day fruit feast in week four, but... I still view myself as a quitter.

I have learned something in this 40 days of yoga.  I learned I don't like yoga very much.  It's MUCH harder than people say it is.  I really had a difficult time with it.  I may give it another shot, but not in the very near future.  I actually have a few days left before the program is over.  I do have an opportunity to take a yoga class or two.  I have another Wednesday night class available to attend.  And, then there is the Celebration on Friday.  I don't feel as if I deserve to go to the celebration.  I didn't do the program completely.  In fact, if you put my participation in the program into percentages, I was most likely under 50%.  I tried, but failed.

Now, I know in any program like this you get out of it what you put into it.  I have to say, I know MUCH more about yoga and meditation and myself than I knew before I started the 40 day program.  I learned things about myself that were a little hard to face.  I also got motivated.  During this program I worked a lot harder at clearing the clutter in my home.  I also went to the gym more regularly.  I was faithful in writing my blog.  And, I did look into my reactive ways of acting and thinking.  And, I learned I don't have to be that way.  I can take a breath.  I can stop and think.  It takes practice, but it can be done. 

You know, now that I'm thinking back on this, I did get something out of this program.  I believe it was in week two I was able to forgive a long held hurt and move forward.  And, I have felt a lot more comfortable about my job.  In fact, just last week I was asked to do something that is REALLY not my job to do.  And, I didn't know how to do it.  I was proud of myself for telling my boss I DIDN'T know how to do what he was asking, not because I'm not smart, but because it isn't my job to do that particular function of the job.  Instead of saying yes and making myself NUTS trying to figure out what to do.  No shame, just the facts.  So, maybe I got something out of yoga.  Certainly not the ability to do vinyasa  flow yoga, but to try something new.  Try something I'm not good at doing.  Take a risk.  But, I still think I'm a quitter.  Darn it.


Friday, April 8, 2011

Happy Birthday Sweetie

Today is my husband's birthday and I'm giving him all my attention today.  Except, of course, the attention I have to give my 8 to 5 job, because today is a work day.  I love my husband.  He is a wonderful guy.

Since this is my blog and not his, I'll tell you all about him from my point of view.  First and foremost, my husband was a great son.  He loved his mother so much and she loved him.  Nothing his mom did seemed crazy or wrong to him and she felt the same way about him.  I don't know how this is done, but it is a beautiful thing to behold.  Secondly, my sweetie is a retired naval aviator.  We had a wonderful time during his USNavy career.  We moved around the country and were blessed to be stationed in Naples, Italy in the mid-80's.  It was SO much FUN!!!  Sometimes I think those were the best years of our marriage, but who knows?  We're still married; maybe the best is yet to come?  As I said, he's retired.  Hahaha... Our son was six or seven years old when he retired from the Navy.  No rest for the wicked.  He had to get another job.  So, while sitting on the USS Inchon off the coast of Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy, my husband searched for a new job via the WONDERFUL new invention of the internet and email,  *thanks Al Gore*  and he found one.

This brings us to the stage of life we find ourselves in now.  My husband is a "beltway bandit" in the mid-Atlantic.  He is also a student working on his PhD in business administration.  He wants to teach during his golden years.  Let me tell you, a PhD is serious business.  He's been at this for seven or eight years.  I'm trying to erase it from my memory as I write.  Being a dissertation widow is a lonely business.  Thank goodness I had all that practice being on my own during those long Navy deployments.  I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel in this process.  He will HOPEFULLY graduate this June.  Fingers crossed.

What our future in the second retirement of our lives will bring?  We don't know yet.  Sure, we have ideas, but we don't know.  So, I'll leave that for another post.

Happy birthday sweetie.  Yeah, you're getting older, but you still look very good to me.  And, you will ALWAYS be older than me, even if you don't look it.  <3

 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Poetry?

I can't tell you how much I'd like
To write a poem of light
And joy.  Not a dirge of dispair
Where I air
My dirty laundry of care
And woe.

I want to show all who read
I am indeed
A woman of great joy.  I refuse
To succomb to who confuse
Words of rhyme or reduce
Verse to tears.
 
I need to read more words
Of happiness and bright blue birds
And butterflies.  I tried
Haiku at the start of my joyride
Into a world of wordsmiths who plied
Their talent.

I've learned words and rhythm
Can be more than awesome
And carefree.  They can be math,
Song, imagery, and not just a bloodbath 
Of tears and fears, but a path
To joy.


Monday, April 4, 2011

Greens

My first food blog.  And, I know you won't believe it, but these are some of my favorite foods.  Greens.  I mean, who doesn't like a salad?  Of course, my favorite salad is a salad someone else makes.  I mean, really, whose isn't?  Below is a pic of mescalun greens.  These greens are the best raw in a salad.  Sure, add some arugula, a few radishes, blood orange segments and a vinaigrette and you've got a delicious salad.  Now, you see I didn't add tomatoes.  Mescalun greens and tomatoes aren't available at the same time of the year here in the mid-Atlantic.  I get my greens from a CSA (community supported agriculture) in my area.  This is a farm I buy shares into and get veggies in return every week.  Not cheap, but organic and local.  It's how I choose to buy my food and spend my money.
Mescalun
The next green in the hit parade of my favorites is Arugula or Rocket greens.  These are a spicy green best added to salads or sandwiches.  They add SO much flavor.  I LOVE Arugala.  I haven't cooked it yet because I eat it raw in salads and don't have any left over.  If you haven't tried Arugala yet, try it.  It is delicious.
Arugula
Now we are coming to, what may be, the more unusual greens.  Below is a green called English Cress.  You may know it as Water Cress or Garden Cress.  It is a delicious green.  I like it in soups.  I add it at the end of Italian Wedding soup or Chicken and Rice.  I like lots of it in soups.  I've heard the English eat something called Water Cress sandwiches.  I don't eat sandwiches very often, so I can't say anything about this.  I love it in soup.  I also like it with arborio rice in risotto.  Delicious.
English Cress
The next green is Rapini or Broccoli Raab.  These are the early shoots of the greens.  They can be COVERED with yellow flowers.  Rapini has a cabbage smell to it when sauteed briefly.  I LOVE this green as a side dish with ANYTHING.  I mean, if you like broccoli you will LOVE RAPINI.  This is best sauteed briefly with a bit of olive oil and garlic.  So good.
Rapini
I think Mustard Greens are my FAVORITE green.  So good and so spicy.  I just can't get enough of them.  Now, I know many of you have eaten greens saturated in bacon grease and who doesn't LOVE bacon.  But, could you taste the greens under all that bacon?  I, too, cook the greens in some bacon, but VERY LITTLE bacon.  Here's the trick to making DELICIOUS greens.  I boil a large pot of water and salt and blanch the greens briefly in the boiling water.  Blanching the greens in the boiling water before sauteing them, sweetens the greens.  So good.  On another burner I have a saute pan with one slice of bacon chopped up and crisped and half a small onion chopped and sweated.  I take the greens and put them in the hot saute pan immediately from the boiling pot and move them around until they are dry (or all the water is steamed off).  Then I add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.  I serve these on top of half a baked sweet potato and viola', dinner is served.  The play of the spicy greens, salty bacon and sweet potato is just DELICIOUS and healthy.
Mustard Greens
Lastly, but far from least is Kale.  Below is curly kale.  This is such a beautiful green.  This green can be cooked exactly the same way the mustard greens are cooked and will be delicious.  I also make them the way my Grandmother made them in the "old country" or Holland.  Grandma used to put some potatoes in a pan with some water and boil them.    She tossed in some kielbasa on top of the boiling potatoes for flavor and added the chopped kale.  When the potatoes were done she removed the kielbasa and mashed the potatoes and greens.  She sliced the kielbasa and added it back to the mash and served.  I make the dish a bit richer by beginning the process with a slice or two of bacon, chopped and then sauteing the kielbasa, bacon with a chopped onion.  I remove the kielbasa and add chicken stock and the potatoes.  Bring to boil.  I add the chopped kale and when the potatoes are done I mash and add the sliced kielbasa.  I love this dish.  I makes me think of my childhood and Grandma.  I've "lightened" this dish by using turkey bacon and turkey kielbasa, just sayin'.
Curly Kale
Thanks for letting me share some food I love.  I hope you will learn to enjoy greens.

Friday, April 1, 2011

When it rains, it pours










I can't believe I've been bestowed another blogging award.  I feel so honored.  I want to thank Joybird at A Songbird in His Court for the Stylish Blogger Award and Elaine at Hidden Heartbeat for the Versatile Blogger Square and both of them for thinking of my blog.  Along with these awards comes a bit of work.  I am to list seven things my readers may not know about me.  Now, this isn't as easy as it sounds.  I tell you guys quite a bit about myself.  Here goes.

1.  I love TV too much.  I think the DVR is the best invention EVER.  One of my favorite shows is Hoarding:  Buried Alive.  I've got it on now, while I'm blogging.  My husband HATES this show.  He will not come near me while I'm watching.  Bwahaha.  Secret solitude maker.

2.  I color my hair.  Hahaha, who doesn't.  Really.  I mean, I just saw a commercial showing a guy being asked for milk by a gorgeous woman, but goes out to buy hair color and color his hair before he gives her the milk he almost forgets to buy, as well.

3.  I wear black pants to work EVERY DAY.  I have more than one pair, but I only wear black pants.  I think they make my butt look smaller.  Isn't that FUNNY.

4.  I still don't believe in Global Warming.  I know they've changed the terminology to "Climate Change," but too bad, I don't believe it and you can't tell me any different.  Do you think I'm a bad person now?  I know the "protection" of our earth is the new religion of the day, and I'm good with being a good steward and not being wasteful.  I just haven't bought into the theory that this isn't a sequential rise and fall of temperature in the earth's condition.  Don't get me started.

5.  I'm a Christian.  I know I've indicated that I'm struggling with the Church, but I'm still a believer.  I just want to make that clear.  I've mostly found the Church is losing it's footing in the Truth.

6.  I have NEVER used an ATM to withdraw money.  I've only used one TWICE, and both times I made a deposit.  Btw, I no longer know my PIN number, so, I guess that won't happen again.

7.  I quit smoking in 1991.  Aren't I AWESOME!!!!  I know the ONLY TRULY EVIL THING in this world is smoking and I DON'T DO IT.  Now, maybe some day my dad will read my blog (haha) and know that I smoked (haha) 'cause I always told him I didn't smoke.  I'm outted now.

Now I get to do the FUN part of getting the awards.  I get to link you to 15 new bloggers I've found that I LOVE.  Well, I haven't been blogging that long.  I know my profile says I started in February 2010, but I was not very consistent back then.  I consider Christmas 2010 the start of my blogging.  These are my favorite bloggers, not counting the bloggers I follow that are MEGA BLOGGERS.  They can choose either or both of the awards and then follow the conditions of the award.  I LOVE these blogs.  ENJOY.

1.  A Family of Movers is blog I love.  Lynne is a wonderful mother of three girls and one baby on the way.  She works full time and still finds time to blog and share her life with the world.  I admire her SO MUCH.  My favorite post is Picture Update.  Isn't her family beautiful?

Homemaker Design is another blog I enjoy.  I love the blog and the ENCOURAGEMENT I get from Homemaker's posts and belief.  My favorite post is I Took The Plunge.  I REALLY admire bloggers with pretty pictures.

3.  Mom of the bride musings is a blog by flower power mama, a mother of a bride.  She is planning a wedding at her home for her daughter.  I can't even IMAGINE doing this.  My favorite post is leaky eye syndrome.  I was SO happy when she found her dress.  I mean, really, it's all about HER, isn't it?

4.  My Blessed Life is by Amber.  She is a single mom of a gorgeous tween.  She is so POSITIVE.  I can't imagine being in her shoes and admire her so much.  She is so upbeat.  My favorite post is you could have bought me dinner first...  She seems to have my sense of humor and I LOVE it.

5.  Sunshine Radical by Hanni.  Hanni is currently in Educador with a drama team.  She is an apartment homesteader in NYC and I admire her so much.  My favorite blog is I'm exhausted.  Maybe 'cause I spent so much time on these croissants.  I REALLY want to learn how to bake.  This young girl is baking CROISSANTS.  I LOVE THAT.

6.  A Sonoma Garden is a blog I wish would post more often.  I know this mom has three young children and doesn't blog for my enjoyment.  I wait with baited breath for her next post.  My favorite is How to Make a Lavendar Wand.  Can you imagine anything so beautiful?

7.  A thousand words is another blog I enjoy.  Kati is a citizen of the world.  I met her while she was living in the Sudan.  Now she is in Lebanon.  I love how she SEES the people around her.  My favorite post is a boy and his little sister.  I LOVE the way she sees them.

8.  Baking Me is a blog I have just discovered.  Like I've said, I'm eager to begin to bake and Anne is in culinary school and take GORGEOUS pictures.  I want to be her.  No, I don't, but I want to be the baker she is.  She is VERY new to blogging and my favorite post is Honey Goat Cheese Biscuits.  Don't these look DELICIOUS?!?

9.  Darby's Essential Oils Info is another blog I love and wish would blog more often.  Hey, not a criticism, just love it when you post.   My favorite post is Cool Peppermint.  Peppermint is my FAVORITE essential oil and it really worked for the hiccups.  I would love to learn more about essential oils and quit my job and teach people about them.  I hope I'll have time to learn and blog about them someday.  I love your blog Darby.

10.  Chateau A la Mode is a beautiful blog by Valarie.  This blog has gorgeous pics in home decor, fashion and food.  Valarie has a style that I admire SO much.  Her blog makes me long for the life on the beach.  I LOVE IT.  My favorite post, and it is so hard to choose, is Wishing my house were clean.  Oh, you know it's my dream, too.

11.  Portland Peeps is a blog I JUST FOUND TODAY!!!  Cindy promised me she would tell me how to raise chickens while living in the city if I followed her blog.  Now she HAS to teach me.  I don't have a fave post yet, but check her out.

12.  Southern Gal Thoughts is another new blog I've found.  This southern gal is someone I want to get to know better.  Her pictures are so pretty and she seems to have a firm grasp of Christ's love of the world.  I need this fundamental truth telling.

13.  Out of My Alleged Mind is a blog by Nancy.  I love the stories she tells and the way she leads my to the truth.  My favorite post is Happily Ever After.  This is truth.

14.  View from the Prairie Box is a blog by a FABULOUS photographer.  My favorite thing about her blog is her pictures.  And, she encourages other bloggers to take pics and blog all through December.  There were holiday pictures EVERYWHERE.  I wish I took pictures.

15.  My Own Version by Mariza is a beautiful blog about a family getting ready to go on the road in an RV.  I can't believe how scary and exciting that would be.  Mariza is a homeschooling mom of two pretty girls.  She is new to blogging, but blogs A LOT.  I can't choose a favorite post.

That's it.  I haven't been blogging long enough to have found enough blogs to give out awards.  Now I'm going to tell all these bloggers they are WINNING.   I'm NOT going to speak of *you know who*.