Blogging

Since I'm on spring break, I'm catching up on a lot of "to-do" things that have been nagging me. I updated my "Other Blogs" gadget lists on my blogs . . . but this blog is Louise's, so I can't do that here!

If you're interested (mostly Ann and Louise, I'm guessing), here are my main blogs:

Jeanne's Musings (very random stuff)
Lessons Learned While Caregiving (what it says)
Eileen Frances Pahl Somers ("Mom" stories - I started this one for our church book club, but repurposed it)
Jeanne's Cyberspot for Reading Response (the one I use the most - blogging all the books I read so I don't have to try to remember details)
 Family Pet Stories (I'm waaaaay overdue to do more writing here . . . two years since my last entry!)

Anyhow, I don't want anyone to feel obliged to read my ramblings, but as I was updating, the mom entries especially made me both happy and sad. Storytelling is a powerful art form. I'm not super adept at it, but I enjoy it.

WordGirl plays catch-up on spring break

Wow. It has been a long time since I've blogged! The school year wears me out, but I still love middle school kids! I have to say, though, I LOVE spring break!

Week 9 was #48 - "Visit a historical society, museum, arboretum, or other educational venue this week." My cheeky thought was "Done! I go to school and learn stuff every day!" But today, I have a date with a friend to go to the American Swedish Institute. I have gone there with her at least three times now (she's a member) and I learn something new every time I go! <Side note - I love the kitchen and pantry. It reminds me a little of my Grandma Pahl's pantry, especially the flour bin.>

My "One Thing" that week was "Call the Harveys!" I still haven't done that . . . I've intended to call them and try to arrange a get together for MONTHS! How sad is that? I suppose the longer you wait, the harder it is to do. Perhaps I'll be blogging again later today, saying that I finally did it!

Week 10 (March 5-11), I drew #26 - "Change the batteries in your smoke detectors this week - if it's the right time of year for it... if not mark it on your calendar as to when you intend to do it, then follow through and do it." Hmmm. . . that's a Louie thing. I'm pretty sure ours chirp when the battery is low . . . and I periodically set them off frying bacon without the exhaust fan (upstairs) or lighting a fire without enough tinder (downstairs).

Week 11 (March 12-18), I drew #20 - "Pick someone & treat them to their favorite healthy treat ex: Louise loves celery washed, and cut into 1 inch pieces (chips), stuck in a gallon plastic bag...  oooooohhhh!  or a bag of peeled grapefruit... mmmmmm!" This one reads like a "Louise would like . . . " request. <grin> I peeled an orange for Louie and me to share this morning. I sometimes bring blackberries to my co-worker Deb. I plan to go to Costco today and get some fruits and veggies. I'm going to call this one done.

Week 12 (March 19-25), I drew #29 - "For every dutiful chore you do this week, give yourself a little reward." I'm not sure how to fulfill this one. I guess I rewarded myself plenty over the weekend at the lake. I did four jigsaw puzzles and read two books.

Week 13 (March 27 - April 1) #25 - "Cut back on salty salt this week, consider switching to low sodium salt." Awesome! This has been a goal of mine for a long time. Yesterday, I went to a movie with two girlfriends. One got nachos and cheese; the other got a hot pretzel. I resisted the desire to get salty treats! And later, at the grocery store, I was *so* tempted to get an on-sale bag of jalepeno flavored kettle chips . . . but I resisted! I *love* salty food!!! But with my high blood pressure and two previous strokes, I need to avoid salt. I will post this one on my white board and try to continue to resist the allure of salt. I will buy the yummy fruits and veggies that I enjoy and continue to use the Mrs. Dash and hot peppers that give my food some of the kick I enjoy so much!

I love spring break. I love being back on track with so many of my goals. I love my sisters!

By the way, I drew a new slip of paper each week, even though I wasn't checking to see what they were for (much less following through with them). I'm a bit too list-oriented sometimes . . . so I'm trying to do the 52 Things the way the original email suggested . . . without driving myself crazy. I think one of the things I like so much about going to the lake is disconnecting from technology AND my to-do list mentality. (And I have drawn almost all of these from the 20s . . . even though I try to scramble the slips of paper and grab randomly.)

Just found a note that said "Repair stuff thing . . . Louie did this on 3.11.17." That must have been week 8. Have I ever been behind! But now I feel caught up. Spring break is wonderful!

I just read a how to on making liquid hand soaps from scratch - very time consuming (if you do it right from scratch), but also very interesting.  The web site I bookmarked was "The Spruce" not sure what all that stands for but I liked the instructions - very clear if you ask me.

Hello all you bright and sun shinny people!  I have the day off and I'm going to roast a chicken later, after I take a shower, hit Aldi's for some celery, red potatoes, and whatever else looks good in the fruit area.  I'm tying to be frugal but that's a hard thing to do.  It's also my way of avoiding the data entry needed to get going on my taxes... but that's another story!

After my chicken is roasted, I'm panning on eating the wings (of course), then some of the white meat, then I'm going to shred to rest of the meat for spaghetti or chow mein.  Have you ever done that?  I've used shrimp in place of hamburger in my spaghetti before (tastes great), but not chicken or turkey.

We'll see how it turns out and what my Thursday night regulars think about what ever I make. ***Especially when one of them keeps adding ketchup to my beef and pork roasts, before tasting - without naming names... (you know who you are... TOM).  My brother as it turns out, innocently said "what??? I'm a tomato guy", as his explanation - it's not that I used my veggie stock in vein.  So all-righty then, the next time I make my beef stewage, I'll make the No Peek recipe, and use the tomato concentrate and see if that works better for him.  Harumph.

The other thing (I haven't done it lately), but I experimented and it worked out fine is, dumping in a can of French Onion soup in the stewage to get that extra beefy, oniony flavor - not to mention feeding my salt addiction - some people do drugs... just pass me the salt!

Well that's it for now - I must shower!!!

It's Tuesday and the sun is shinning, the weather is supposed to be in the 60's and it's March!  I might take some time to dig in the garden, try my foot (and hands), at turning under the composted leaves, expose some worms, give the robins a thrill (yes - the first sign of spring has happened - four fat robins were on my front lawn yesterday when I left for work at the crack of 7:30AM).  

Actually, my first sign of spring is a squashed skunk on the side of the road, not sure they were skunks, but there has been a lot of roadkill out on the highways the last week or so.

And another thing... I was going to shower wasn't I?  What's up with all the missing dog posters out in the country side?  Is someone dog napping peoples pets or what?  Take a drive out to Carver Minnesota to see what I mean, poor doggies.

OK I really must shower now, maybe I should just write more often then I wouldn't have so much to say huh?

Stay upright,

The Puzzle Goddessa

Salad Girl reports on Puzzle Girl's deed

Louise must have picked "give someone flowers" this week because she called me at work and asked if she could stop by.  Weird I thought, but sure - since she is in the neighborhood.  She comes in on gray Monday with a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers and red/purple alstramerias.  What you say?  they look sort of like little lilies.  ANYWAY - everyone at work wants to adopt my sister.  Can't have her - she has enough adoptees.  A therapist at work stated "you and your sister bring positive energy to this place."  (My "give someone flowers was a single daffodil for each person.

Back to salads.  I tried making a dressing for a kale salad with mango/peach jam, virgin olive oil and some fancy vinegar Louise had.  I had soaked those old cranberry raisins with crushed pineapple, so that went in too.  There was a special on orange sweet peppers so I chopped some of that up.  YUM.  Someone at Book Babes said you were supposed to twist the kale or some such thing so that it isn't bitter.  Who knew?  Sounds violent to me - just add the sugar said the non-diabetes person.

All for now - nothing earth shaking, but as IrishJill says; a lot of little actions - right?  Go us!

Monday is the day of CHOOSING

Last week I chose:  Perform on act of random kindness this week.  I try to perform random acts of kindness every day which is quite easy downtown because there are so many people that need help with opening doors, holding elevator doors, etc. and I was going to try to keep track and see if I actually did anything MAJOR but mostly I do little things whenever possible.

Puzzle Girrrrl (new moniker)

So.  Salad Girl said I should choose the name Puzzle Girl and quit dinking around about having a new name every time I post and since I like jigsaw puzzles (as evidenced by the 5000 piece puzzle I recently completed), and the fact that I don't like to do anything normal, today I'm going with Puzzle Girrrrl for my newest aka.

When I wear my tiara I'm to be referred to as "the goddess of everything", or "the goddessa" for short.  It reminds me of when my friends two daughters were young and I convinced them to address me as "Auntie Weeze Goddess", and was truly tickled when they actually did it - out of the mouths of babes...  course I also taught them how to swear in Spanish - who knew they'd remember that!!!???

But they did of course.  Sigh. So now that I have a name for today, I'm looking forward to working on my list o' 52 tings.  I have an artist friend who posted in her Daily Thotz the following:

It is also the first day of a two-day celebration of unplugging. The National Day of Unplugging is observed this year on March 3-4, but is really meant to encourage a weekly day of rest. 

Typical of me, I didn't read it until said days of unplugging were over, but it made me think that other people out there are trying to make the world a better place as well and here is the rest of the story (in case you should want to try some of these ideas your own self)...

This is what www.sabbathmanifesto.org has to say about it:

Way back when, God said, “On the seventh day thou shalt rest.”  The meaning behind it was simple: Take a break. Call a timeout. Find some balance. Recharge.

Somewhere along the line, however, this mantra for living faded from modern consciousness. The idea of unplugging every seventh day now feels tragically close to impossible. Who has time to take time off? We need eight days a week to get tasks accomplished, not six.

The Sabbath Manifesto was developed in the same spirit as the Slow Movement, slow food, slow living, by a small group of artists, writers, filmmakers and media professionals who, while not particularly religious, felt a collective need to fight back against our increasingly fast-paced way of living. The idea is to take time off, deadlines and paperwork be damned.

In the Manifesto, we’ve adapted our ancestors’ rituals by carving out one day per week to unwind, unplug, relax, reflect, get outdoors, and get with loved ones. The ten principles are to be observed one day per week, from sunset to sunset. We invite you to practice, challenge and/or help shape what we’re creating.

Not sure how to turn the Principles into reality?

Here are some tips on interpreting the Sabbath Manifesto as you see fit:

To some, “avoid technology” means not sending text messages. To others, it means not using a stove or riding in an elevator. To some, “be healthy” means running the next NYC marathon. For others, it means chewing each mouthful of food you eat real slow – 18 chews a bite.

You get the picture. Find the balance that works for you.

Do you have multiple cell phones? Take your ipad to the beach on vacation? Ever find it hard to get through a conversation without posting an update to Facebook? Is your computer always on?

We increasingly miss out on the important moments of our lives as we pass the hours with our noses buried in our iPhones and BlackBerry’s, chronicling our every move through Facebook and Twitter and shielding ourselves from the outside world with the bubble of “silence” that our earphones create.

If you recognize that in yourself – or your friends, families or colleagues— join us for the National Day of Unplugging, sign the Unplug pledge and start living a different life: connect with the people in your street, neighborhood and city, have an uninterrupted meal or read a book to your child.

For our Sabbath Manifesto, we created 10 core principles completely open for your unique interpretation. We welcome you to join us as we carve a weekly timeout into our lives and to continue the momentum of the National Day of Unplugging throughout the year.

THE TEN PRINCIPLES

1.      Avoid technology.

2.      Connect with loved ones.

3.      Nurture your health.

4.      Get outside.

5.      Avoid commerce.

6.      Light candles.

7.      Drink wine.

8.      Eat bread.

9.      Find silence.

10.  Give back.

The Sabbath Manifesto can be practiced solo or in a group. You choose. Or experiment. Gather a few friends together, your family, your local bartender, give everyone a principle to interpret. Meet up. Share your interpretations. Do it again next week. Everyone takes a new principle. It’s that simple. Over time you can create your own new rituals.

I think that some of those ten things listed might be in my list as well.  Happy Unplugging everyone!

The Puzzle Goddess - yea, I like that name...

Salad Girl says frozen is good...

Yes, singing "Let it go" is helpful and the ice girl's dress is out of this world, but I am talking about greens.  Again.  Well, actually vegetables.

I have heard that veggies that are frozen go to from the farm to the freezer faster than you can say "Ala...I can't spell it."  Anyway, frozen could actually be more fresh than fresh if it had to be shipped from who knows where.

Goal: eat something in my freezer to make room for frozen veggies.  Then fix the veggies when it is lacking on my plate.  It's a good idea anyway - right?