Simplifying life (or at least dinner and shopping)

Around eight years ago, sometime after I married my husband, but I think within that same year, I started doing twice a month dinner menus.  It started on Saturdays.  I would pull all the frozen meat out of the freezer, count it up, and then proceed to build a menu based on what we had first, then filled in the remainder days.  Then the following payday, I'd do the grocery shopping.  This was after months of just shopping for things, and then when it came time to cook dinner, not having one or two ingredients, and having to find something to cook that we had the stuff for.   

My thought was, if I made a menu, we could shop for what we were going to eat, and not have to wonder what was for dinner.  That worked really well.  Every Saturday I sat and scored through my many many many cookbooks, and recipe cards.  I'd throw in old favorites, and new dishes I'd never made.  I enjoyed cooking, and loved to try new things.

Then we had a child.  The nights got busier, it turned into cooking what was quick and easy.  I stopped shopping on payday, and shopped only on Saturday.  Friday became menu and shopping list night.  And over the last five years that has turned into this chore that I hate.  The worst part of the month is the two days I have to sit down and figure out what we should eat for the next two weeks.

When you don't have the time to experiment, you really end up eating the same list of things. With school starting this year, it seems to be an even bigger hassle.  It's just a feeling of, I have so little time to just relax, that I don't want to spend it trying to figure out what to eat.  

All those thoughts had a lightbulb go off in my head.  A way to simplify matters.  Naturally this happened after I finished this weeks shopping list and menu.  But I did extra work on Saturday to set this experiment into motion.

I sat down, and went through my most used cookbooks, and my most used recipe cards and wrote down the recipes.  I came up with six weeks worth of recipes, put them in the calendar, and told it to repeat each one every six weeks.  We already eat these most of the time anyway.  Now it's not a case of, we just had that and I forgot we ate it.  Every six weeks, green chili.  Every six weeks, fajitas.  and, all I have to do is look at the upcoming week the night before I do the shopping and put what is needed for the next couple of weeks.

Naturally, on special occasions whatever is planned for that day will be skipped.  I mean, we aren't going to have taco soup on Thanksgiving.  And as usual with my menus, somedays you just feel like .... (insert random food you enjoy all the time here)...  but for the most part, I think this will work great.  Plus, the six week timeframe offers a lot of variety.  So I don't think we'll get board with the stuff we eat anyway.  

Sometimes you have to find ways to make time for yourself.  Now maybe I can get that long soak in the tub I keep telling myself I'll have.  😂

The first day of school

So... My daughter starts Kindergarten this year.  In two days I will be taking her to her first full day of school.  She is super excited!  Has had her outfit picked out for two weeks.  (she's a little fashionista) I am getting mad butterflies just typing this up!  It's a case of, I know everything will be fine, but I can't help go over all the things that need to be done.  Lunches packed, homework, reading, hoping that everything goes well while she is there.

We aren't unfamiliar with the school, she attend preschool there last year, but it was a half a day.  Three hours.  She loved it.

The kindergarten is set up similar to preschool.  With bathrooms right in the classroom, so there aren't any lost kindergarteners roaming the halls.  Very relieved about that, but at the same time, my brain fast forwards to next year, where she will be in the 1st grade, and in a new school because they decided to build a whole new school, in a whole new location.

See, this is why I have to keep up on meditating, I have a hard time staying in the here and now... I'm always about five steps ahead of myself.

For her first lunch she has told me she wants a sandwich, Pringles, and popcorn.   😂  When I pack it tomorrow, we are sitting down and deciding Pringles OR popcorn, and carrots or cucumbers, apples or bananas or peaches, or pears........  There was a farmers market yesterday.  Fruit happens at those things.

So much preparation and then it will be routine.

And on that first day, I had a vacation day that needed to be used, so I took it off.  I didn't want to rush when I didn't know quite what to expect.  My husband thinks I'll be sitting outside the school for a bit.  I did finally make that massage appointment I've been trying to do for at least two years.  So I can't stay outside her school the ENTIRE day. 😂

The Power of Music

Completely switching gears from last week.  Mostly because this has been bouncing around in my head all this week, and also because I'm not sure where I was going with that last week.  I had a point, but I also had a husband and daughter doing some major distracting last week.  I'm not sure I even wrote a coherent sentence with the amount of distraction going on.

So, the power of music.  There was a long period in my life, where, if I got upset at something, or somebody, I would play the angriest music I could find.  The Strand, Korn, Godsmack......  These were the bands I would crank up.  For years and years this is what I did.  And it never really helped except prolong the anger.  I would leave work, crank up the music, and arrive at home furious.  Do a bit of Turbo Jam, and my shoulder would be sore for a day or two from how hard I was punching the air.  But I was still upset about whatever it was.

This year I decided to try a different approach.  I call it my "Just shake it off" playlist.  Anytime something upsets me, I play this playlist instead.  Nine times out ten I'm in a much better mood, and have moved on.  That one time out of ten is usually a case of it being something major that needs to be taken care of, not a situation that's just frustrating, or a person who has there head stuck up their you know what.

My playlist does have songs added to it whenever I find a song that makes me feel happy listening to it.  But at the moment my list is....

Shake It Off, Taylor Swift
Let Go, Alice In Videoland
Red Balloon, Charlie XCX
Try Everything, Shakira
Awesome As I Want To Be, Daniel Ingram
Beautiful Life, Ace of Base
Ex's & Oh's, Elle King
Roundtable Rival, Lindsey Stirling


It's a short list, but I'm usually good halfway through it.

Anyone else out there have a playlist of this nature? What songs make you happy/cheer you up?

Trying to Create Goals

There are so many self help authors out there.  From what I've seen, a similar factor between them is that you need to write your goals down to achieve them. This also seems to come from those successful people that have made it big.  They knew what they wanted, they wrote it down, and they went for it.

But what if you are among the people that don't know what you want?  I think too many people are labeled as "lazy" or "not ambitious" simply because they don't know what they want.  It's easy to make blanket statements like "I want to be successful."  "I want to be rich" "I want to live in a huge house"  "I want to travel".

That's great, but you want to be successful at what?  What are you willing to do to be rich?  With the ever longed for goal of being rich, are you prepared for the fame, and lack of privacy that comes with it?  Or, if it's not a famous kind of rich, the long hours you have to put in at a high pressure job?

Some people are, they are ready and willing.  Great! go for it!

These days the "American Dream" seems to be rich and famous.  I think it used to be owning a bit of your own land and owning yourself.  Not being a "slave" to a monarchy.  Although, that is a whole can of worms I don't think I want to delve into today.

So, back the the question.  What are your goals.  Your main life goals.  I think for some of us the question isn't what are your goals, but what makes you happy?  I think this because sometimes we are looking at life thinking we need to achieve this success.  That unless we are striving for some kind of greatness, we are nothing.  That is a mindset we need to get rid of.  There are so many people who's main goal is to survive, and because they aren't trying to make a million dollars, does not make them less important than the person who has been able to make their million.

And at the same time, sometimes the whole goal setting thing is difficult if we don't know what we want to do.  Sometimes we fall into a career, and sometimes we really wanted it, and then grow out of it after the reality of what the day to day of that job entails.  So, I think, (and I am by no means a professional, and these theories are untested.)  that the first step is to list all the things that you enjoy.  EVERYTHING.  From sunsets to hobbies.  Write everything that you enjoy down.

Forever Working on Fitness

It seems once you start, you can never stop.  Although when it comes to your fitness, and well being, you should never stop.  What I find interesting is that I go through phases of workouts.  When I started, all I did was Pilates.  Mat Pilates.  I loved it!  Then I found some great cardio workouts, then I started weight lifting and dropped the Pilates.  Then it was cardio, cardio, cardio, followed by running and yoga.  At this current moment it's all Yoga.  I tend to get into a workout, then my brain starts to work against me.  Then I try to figure out ways to add all my various workout favorites into the week.

That is usually where I burn out and stop working out regularly for a week or so.  So for years I've been trying to schedule everything I enjoy doing, and still manage to do everything else I need to do, because you know, I am apparently an adult, and have to be responsible. Sometimes that responsibility includes looking at what your workouts are, and figuring out if they really are working for you.  And while I think in some ways the Yoga is helping, I also think that I need to add something more in there.

And I also am finding that I am rambling in this post.  Isn't that just entertaining to you?

So, before I completely loose any focus on this entry, I'll ask anyone who happens to read this.  What do you do to maintain balance between your workouts?  Do you stick with one thing, or do you have a schedule you follow?

Let me know in the comments what your workout routine is.  Does it make you happy?  That is very important, none of this painful I hate life workout stuff.

One Week Later

So, it has been a week since I resurrected this blog and posted about my frustrations about the negativity in the world.  One week since I stopped news notifications, and stopped reading my news websites.

In that week,  I have found the website calm.com  A meditation website/app.  And I started to meditate every day using the meditations on that app.
I have also started going to happier.com instead of news websites.  And in general focusing on positivity.
There was one moment, where my husband showed me this awful video that was circling facebook.  While I'm not going to shut down people telling me about news, or completely ignore major news that is going on, at the same time, I don't want to watch a video about some soldier overseas that is basically bullying some poor kids in a country we are at war against.  The only reason people post videos of that sort is to get some kind of reaction.  I told my husband I don't want to see anything like that because what am I going to do? Fly overseas and slap the guy?
So, other than that moment of frustration, I have noticed a change in my attitude in this first week.  I've gone into situations with co-workers with a more open mind.  Usually I would go in with a negative "I don't want to deal with you" attitude and the entire conversation would be unpleasant.  Which really wasn't like me at all.  I would always leave the situation thinking "I used to be such a nice person"

In doing the 100happydays challenge I've stopped more through the day to acknowledge things that make me happy.  I suppose I've been more in the moment.  Now, I'm not saying I've managed a complete 180 in a week.  I still manage to get really irritated by some things.

I've been thinking during this week, that I need to get a notebook and cary it around all the time.  So that I can just write things down as I think of them.  Yes, I have many note apps on my phone, but I am just one of those people who think best on paper.  This blog is really a challenge to that, since I don't write it down on paper first.  I think by writing things down on paper, I probably would have some subjects to keep my blog going, as well as be able to transfer things either to my journal, which I am not comfortable carrying around with me everywhere. Or, if applicable, to my story that I hope to write.  Because I am of course, one of those people who is totally going to write a book someday.   And rather than carrying a bunch of different notebooks for different things, I think one in general will suffice.

Now, I have searched my house and found an old composition book I used for what looks like a creative writing class I took in collage.  So, the book is over 15 years old.  It's kinda strange, because part of me doesn't want to use it.  But it's not like I'm going to take that class again, and need it for the class.  I might as well fill it up with my thoughts, and give the blank pages the use they deserve.  Right?
So, this week will start that project.  As well as trying to actually write in my journal.

My journal is a book that was given to me in 1994. It's not a very thick book.  I've been writing in it off and on (mostly off) since then.  it's 2016, you can see how often I write in it.  I'm trying to write in it more, but I know that if I say "I will write every day!" I will fail early.  But, I feel that if I write every Sunday, I might manage.  At this time in my life, Sundays are my recover day.  I managed to do a massive amount of yard work on Saturdays at this time.  A project that will take me into October for the first part, and will start up again in spring for the second part.  This first part is exhausting.  Placing pavers in a pattern.  I can really only handle 36 at a time and the next day I feel it.  It doesn't help that I think we are still under this "heat dome" thing so I'm fighting heat exhaustion when I do this work.  Even if I wake early (which for me is hard on a Saturday) I'm still sweltering by 9am with this project.  I obviously would make a horrible construction worker.

So, because of that, my Sundays are Yoga, Meditation, and writing.  With cooking dinner and watering plants thrown in because stuff still has to get done.  So with that time frame, I believe this blog should be consistently updated on Sundays.  I know that last post was a Monday, but that last post had to get out of me before my head imploded with it.

We will see how I do carrying that notebook around.  I'll be sure to let you know how that's going next Sunday.

100 Happy Days Challenge and Hello again!

I'm resurrecting this blog today.  I have found myself wanting to write on and on about various things, but never quite having the time to put them down on paper, or computer as it were.  Most of that problem stems from the fact that I can think of about 5-10 different posts to write at any given time... although usually while I'm washing the dishes.  But, by the time I have made it to my computer I'm done for the day and don't want to think.

But lately, there has been so much going on, both in my own mind, and in the world, that I feel the need to step back into this forum, if only to get my thoughts out of my head.

So today I'm going to talk about happiness, and the 100 happy days challenge.  This isn't something I've created, but something I stumbled on today.

While I'm at work, I usually have the internet browser up.  My number one reason being that I use my google calendar for everything to keep me on track, and make sure I don't miss anything, work or personal.  Another reason is because I work in video, on an old computer.  Which means render time eats up a lot of my day, and I can't really do too much else while rendering that's going to use up a lot of computer power.  Staring at the little render line can drive a person nuts, so I usually read the news on various news websites while I wait for my computer to do it's thing.

On top of that, I have the AP app on my phone.  There are days where I have other tasks to complete that I don't look online at all.  I wanted to keep up with the national stuff.  I believe I downloaded the AP app shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting.  Then earlier this year, or late last year, I don't quite recall, I started to follow an online news outlet that is local, so I could know what was going on in my own town/state.  I had the notifications on twitter turned on so I could see anything that was posted fairly immediately.

So here I am, keeping up to date on news.  Being aware of what is going on in the world.  But today I woke up, turned my alarm off on my phone, and saw yet another shooting at a nightclub in Florida. Then at work I'm reading about this horrible thing that happened today, and that horrible thing that happened today.  Then my phone lights up with the arrests around town.  I'm not sure at what point it was that my brain said "stop".

It could be that I've been binge watching (well, listening to really) Kino Yoga (on youtube) mainly her playlist on "Living the Yogi's Life"

Who knows what the real cause was, but the moment happened this afternoon when I closed the news browser, unfollowed the news twitter account, and turned off notifications in my AP app.  Then I started to google "happy websites"  because everything that is being fed to me is misery and destruction.  Blood, bullets, bombs, killings......

I decided at that moment that, while I'm not going to plug my ears and say "lalala" when I happen upon the news, I'm also not going to binge feed my brain everything.  What if I wake up in the morning and the first thing I see isn't bad news that happened while I was sleeping?  What if it's something good?  Or, just the numbers on the clock telling me the time?

So, one of the websites I found was 100happydays.com  A website challenging you to have 100 happy days.  To take a photo of something that made you happy every day for 100 days.  I signed up and started today, using my instagram account as the source of the photo being put out into the world.  Now, I was looking later at different pages referring to it, and saw a site where someone was talking about how this was a horrible idea.  that no one has an "exciting day" everyday for 100 days.  It's something that made you happy.  Not having an exciting day.  I think that, even on the worst day of your life, there has to be a tiny spark of something that made you happy, even for a moment.  The idea is that by recognizing these sparks of happiness, that you will appreciate them, and in the end be happier for living in the moment, rather than searching for happiness.

Another part of the challenge is to take the photo of something that truly made you happy.  Not something you think others will like.  So, I have decided in my posts of this challenge, that I will not explain why something made me happy, I will not hashtag the hell out of a post, I will just list the day and the hashtag for the challenge, and that will be it.

Here's hoping that anyone who stumbles upon this will find a little more happiness in their lives.

@---{------

Tea and Always Looking for a Way Out

Of my job that is.

Don't get me wrong.  I really enjoy what I do.  When I'm editing video like the main aspect of my job description says.  It's the drama of being a departmental manager that makes me want to leave the business altogether.

And this year, for some reason, has been worse then in the past.  About every year in the fall I start debating what else I could do.  I've looked into going back to school for teaching.  But I really think that at my age, I'm a bit disadvantaged in this market.

Then I thought, I'll teach fitness classes.  But really, how many turbo kicks can a person really teach in a day without crashing?  So realistically, I don't think I can make a living off one class.

Unless that class is Pilates?  I would love to be certified.  I looked at the closest place.  I looked at the price, the hours, and then remembered; I have a three year old, a husband, and a job.  I can't be driving the 4 hours needed to get that training in.

And my dream felt crushed.  Then out of the blue, my Pilates instructor tells me that they might be setting up a course here in town.  They will have the certification people COME HERE!!  The cost would be less, because of a buying equipment discount (something of that sort for the gym)

And my hopes jumped through the roof, and my brain already fast forwarded to me quitting my job in such a way that I no longer deal with the drama, but can work part time editing.

Of course, not sure my boss would ever go for that.  But I can edit on my home computer now.  Professionally, not the freebie stuff that comes on a windows.

So, I could still edit video to my hearts content (provided I can think of what I want to edit) and teach pilates, and quite likely make a living.

Then perhaps I could take up teaching PiYo, or hooping, or.....

See.  That is my brain looking for a way out.

Since the possibility of the training won't even start until next year sometime. I have a few months to determine if I really want to do this, or if it's a flight of fancy.

But considering how many times I've circled around to the fitness business, I have a feeling I will go through the training.

Which is so confusing for me, considering that I left work today thinking "I love my job"

like I said, some aspects are wonderful and beautiful.  And others I could do without.

And writing this down here, really hasn't helped me gain perspective of what I want.  I really feel like I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

Tea and LAZIK

Ah, to be able to see without glasses.  If you wear glasses, you know the feeling.  If you don't, then you will never quite know.  It can be explained, but never truly experienced.

In fact, when I informed a co-worker that I was getting LAZIK they responded with the usual questions: cost?  (oh, about $4000) Risk? (oh, well, I suppose the worst that could happen is you could go blind...)  "Oh, well why would you want to take that chance, it's your eyes"

Yes, well, the thought of waking up at 3am, rolling over, and being able to see the clock to know that it is 3am is enough to take a chance on a proven surgery method, that everyone I know that has had it, has had mostly success.  Only one person didn't, and they didn't go blind.  They just had one eye they had to go in a second time for it to "take" as they put it.

So, I made the appointment, and only got nervous they day I had to go into my eye doctors office and have my eyes dilated. I think it was due to the "this is it" mentality.  Since I had to pay them a good chunk of change on that day for the year of follow up appointments I would be having.

A little over a week later I was in the car, on a four hour drive to "get new eyes" as my husband put it.

Not nervous.  No butterflies in my stomach.  Just a bit of anticipation, an eagerness to open my eyes in the morning and see.  To be able to go to bed at night without digging contacts out of my eyes.  Or stumbling in the middle of the night to my daughters room, nearly running into the wall because, not only am I not awake, but I didn't put my glasses on.  And heaven forbid I have to change a diaper, or find a lost sock.  These are things one shouldn't do with fuzzy vision.

So, we find the offices, an hour early, The Dishler Laser Institute.   But that was planned.  They want you to eat before going into surgery.  After we made sure we knew where the place was, we went to lunch.  We drove around until we found a place to eat. It was a Deli place, I don't remember the name, but it was pretty good.  Then back to the offices we went.  Their office was on one of the higher floors.  I think there was only one or two floors above them.

We stepped off the elevator, and saw these glass doors that informed us we were at the correct location.   We walked in, and it was like  the waiting room to a spa.  There was a pretty complete view of Denver, nice chairs, and water with cucumbers and lemons.  Really, I think it was the cucumber lemon water that gave it the spa feel.  Since you usually only see that in a spa. After I filled out the required paperwork (most of which I did at home) I found a chair and began the wait.  But, I still wasn't nervous.  I read my book on my phone, while my husband read out of a book on the table.  Then I was called in.

The appointment had three parts to it.  First they eye check.  This was mostly your standard eye exam to start.  Followed by some tests I've never had done before.  I think they were tests to measure your eye, to make sure they calibrate everything.  At one point I had to stare at an image and hold my eye open.  For some reason it took her longer on one eye than they other, and she apologized quite a bit for that, then said "but you did really well not blinking or anything."  Kind of in a surprised tone.  I replied "you obviously haven't done much photo shopping have you?"  and mimicked holding a mouse while staring, unblinkingly, ahead.  (seriously, sometimes I think you have to set a timer to remember to blink with that program).

Then I was back in the waiting room.  Drinking "fancy water" and reading.  Part two was the explanation of medication.  Here they went over the pills, one for pain, one to relax.  The eye drops, and how often.  The first week your life is eye drops.  It goes down considerably after that.  The sunglasses, and night goggles.  Don't rub your eyes.  What time to take your eye drops right after surgery.

Then on to part three.  The surgery.  I was lead into a room with what looked like leather lazy boy chairs.  I sat in one while they put surgery booties on my feet, a hair net over my hair, took my glasses, and put drops in my eyes.  I briefly met with the doctor, then the nurse came in and gave me more drops.

I was then led to surgery.  There were two lasers.  One that cuts the flap in your eye, and one that reshapes your eye to correct your vision.  The first took about 10 to 15 seconds each eye.  Really, I was just looking at a green light.  The second was a little longer, about 20 seconds per eye.  That was like looking into a red led light.  it had about six or seven lights it looked like.  I stared at it until it felt like I was going cross eyed, The only thing I felt was a breeze on my face.  Although there was a smell, like evaporating water.  Kinda like how it smells if you are boiling water and let it all boil out.  Right before the pan starts to burn.

Then it was over. I was led back to the lazy boy chair, and sat there with my eyes closed.  The nurse came in, and asked me if I could read what time it was.  It was strange, because it was like looking through a fog, but I could read it.  but I got the time wrong.  She looked at me kinda confused, and I looked again and corrected myself.   It was a case of it being close enough to changing to the next hour, that at first glance, you read the time an hour off.

I was given the bag of eye drops and such, and was given dark sunglasses to wear from that point on.  Out I walked into the lobby to find my husband.

We stayed at a hotel around the corner, and I followed the directions to take about a 3 hour nap, or at least rest my eyes.  I didn't think I had slept, but apparently I did.  We ordered in food, and while everything was still foggy, it was clearing up.  I ordered this spinach artichoke flat bread that had mushrooms and pesto sauce on it.  It was amazing.  I just had to throw that in there.  It was delicious, and I wish there was someplace where I live that made that.  I had to wait until 10 to put the drops in my eye, so I laid back and half watched the TV.  I did have a headache, but I think it was eye strain.  Mostly I had my eyes closed as I waited for 10pm to arrive.  I did fall asleep somewhere during Conan, because one minute a guest was on, the next the band was closing the show.  I hopped up, took the pill they sent me home with, did the eye drop thing, and went to bed.

The next day the fogginess was gone.  I could see, and it was awesome.

I am just about a week away from it being a month, and it's been great.  Because you can't exactly rest your eyes to heal, like you can a broken leg, I have noticed my eyes tire easily, but it's been getting better.

Overall, I completely recommend it.

Best of all, when something wakes me up at 3:37 am, I can quickly see what time it is, and roll over and go back to bed knowing my alarm isn't going off for another hour and 23 minutes.

Tea and Super Bowl

So, the Winter Dream tea was yummy, but the Peppermint Bark is amazing!  Just needed to say that.  It's so good.  They both have the chocolate bits in it, but the peppermint bark has little candy peppermint pieces in it.  It was like the first time I tried a vanilla chai.

So.... The Super Bowl.  I made the mistake of doing a little Super Bowl food shopping today.  Talk about a crowded store!  It was worse than the weekend before Christmas.  Of course I had the sense to stay out of the toy department the weekend before Christmas.  So I'm just talking from a grocery aisle viewpoint.  I can say that I bought way more food then we need, as we don't have a party, we have 2 adults and a 3 year old.
This will be the 8th game I've watched.  I never watched football before meeting my husband.  My roommate and I at one point decided that Super Bowl Sunday was for girls to watch sappy romance novels and eat pixy sticks and cookies. Honestly, I still prefer that type of Sunday marathon.

I do enjoy the commercials, but.... those are all online right now, so I'm not sure what the point of spending millions of dollars to air your big commercial, when people can see them anytime.  Yeah, you are getting your advertising out there, during the biggest game of the year.  The most watched TV show of the year. but still....  it's ridiculous, and I'm rambling.  So I'm outta hear.

Tea and Work

Tea of the week.....  Winter Dream by Lets Do Tea.   I tried the chocolate mint tea from Teavana last month.  The taste is okay, the smell is.....  not pleasant.  Now, Winter Dream on the other hand is a similar tea, Chocolate mint, with a very pleasing taste and smell.  I'm hoping this is a tea that will stick around through out summer as well.  Of course, I tend to drink a little less tea in the summer.  

I have discovered in the last few months that the more stressed I am, the less tea I manage to drink.  More so because when I'm super stressed at work, it's because I am super busy with projects and don't have a minute to get away from my desk to heat a cup of water.  This realization hit me when I was brewing a cup of tea, during a slow period where I really had almost nothing to do.  As busy as I am sometimes, I still need to step away from the desk.

Luckily my husband inadvertently given me a gift that will help me with that.  For Christmas I got the Nike Fuel band.  It encourages you to get up ever hour to move around for 5 minutes.  For the most part I've been trying to do that while at work.  At times it's a bit strange to just wander around the small building I work at and not look crazy.  When the temperature gets above 30 I plan to take my walking around outside to the parking lot.  I hope I'll look a little less crazy, but who knows.  

My co-worker has been trying to move around more.  That stems from the study that recently came out talking about those that sit all day have earlier deaths.  So, he sees me get up, and he follows.  One more person following and my entire department will be walking in circles around the building for five minutes.  I suppose that will cut the crazy factor down a little.

tea and no tea

hmmmm.... tea of the week, drive thru vanilla chai from a local coffee hut.

I have been so crazy busy this week, that I haven't had time to get up and heat a cup of water!  Crazy to the point that when you take lunch, it's kinda irritating, because it's interrupting getting everything that needs to be finished, completed.  Yet, you have to take lunch because you scheduled an eye appointment months ago when you weren't busy.  So it's no wonder that I woke up with a kinked neck.  Can't move it worth anything.  Talk about frustrating.

And I want to add to it all by getting lazik eye surgery.

I have the hope that all will go wonderful, and I will be able to see without glasses.  Ah....  sounds so nice.

But also the fear that I will flinch and be rendered blind, thus unable to work, out of a job, and trying to figure out how to cook some favorite  recipes.

I'm leaning toward a more positive thinking with this, as I know a few people that had the procedure, and none are blind.

The real question is how soon will I be able to get it done.  That depends on when I can get vacation, since it is an out of town trip.

As much as I want to be glasses free next month, it's looking like next spring would make more sense.

I've been with glasses this long, what's another handful of months?

Back to the crazy week.  Today I was able to chill out, and be lazy, so of course I'm exhausted.  (of course) Next week doesn't look like it's going to ease up any.  I just hope I have a moment to brew a cup of tea or two.

But we shall see....

Tea and Yoga

This week I'm working on increasing my tea consumption, as well as my yoga practice.

That sentence is quite misleading, it sounds like I am a daily yogi that is all bendy.  No, I can barley touch my toes, and forget about any type of hip flexibility.  It's only been recently that I discovered that you don't need to be flexible to do yoga.  You do yoga to help you become flexible.

I fell in love with Yoga Booty Ballet when it first came out.  Except when they did happy cow pose.  They make it look like anybody can bend their body in that pose.  While I'm sitting there with one hip not even touching the floor, and one knee up by my ear.  I swore off serious yoga that day.  It would never be for me.

Then this summer I was on a 30 day challenge kick, and decided to try Erin Motz's 30 day yoga challenge.  In that month I completely changed how I feel about yoga.  I took an actual class at the local yoga studio. While I had gradually been introducing myself to yoga before that challenge, it wasn't yoga yoga.  I was enjoying Piyo, which is a Pilates/yoga combo, that is fast paced, and doesn't hold the stretches.  I take Pilates at the gym, on the equipment (love the reformer!) and since the yoga challenge, I have decided that yoga is a great compliment to Pilates.

All this rambling has a point.  I recently supported a kickstarter campaign, that I think will be super awesome.  If you like yoga, and want to enjoy your practice at home, you should totally check it out.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andreaszoltan/myyogapro-a-revolutionary-way-to-learn-and-practic

That's pretty much it this week.

Tea and Trick or Treating

The question in my head today is, do kids go door to door anymore to trick or treat?  When I was single, I can only remember a handful of kids that knocked on my door.  And that is over a ten year period.

Now, I do have to take into account, that in that time I spent many a Halloween working either graveyard or swing shift.  So I was either sleeping or working most Halloweens when the kids would be out.  But, in the time that I have been working an 8-5 job I only see about 2-3 kids each year.

And each year the downtown businesses do a big trick or treating thing, the malls do a trick or treating thing, and a few other businesses have special trick or treating events.  Not to mention the churches that do the "trunk or treating".

So, with this being the first year I'm taking my child out I have to decide.  Will we go door to door? or will we simply do a few events and go home?

Honestly.  Probably the events and go home.  For one, most of those are on the Saturday before Halloween, and I don't have time to get home from work, get everyone ready, get dinner on the table and get trick or treating in before bath and bedtime.  I can barely get dinner on the table before bath and bedtime. Lets not add in the Halloween sugar addiction.

So tell me, do you trick or treat door to door?

Tea and snow

Friday it was chocolate mint tea day.  I'm not sure what brand it is, but it's teabags not loose leaf.  I'm going to order teavana's chocolate mint tea soon, and see how that tastes.

Friday, I stayed home from work.  My babysitter didn't want to try traveling in the weather, and I don't blame them.  So I watched as around 16 inches of snow dumped onto my yard.  I wandered outside early in the morning to shake the snow off the trees.  The sound of tree branches cracking and breaking all around the yard and in the neighbors yards is a scary sound.  Very never ending story nothingness.....

I went out with my husband after dark, when the snow was slowing down, to shake the trees again.

Today, he's been cleaning up branches all day.  This crazy snowstorm completely snapped the top of some trees around here.  But really, we have it easy.  A good chunk of this town was plunged into darkness as the tree branches downed power lines.  Now we, the collective we, as in the entire town, is going to be spending the next week or so cleaning up tree branches, and trimming what's left of the trees so they survive the rest of the winter.

Tea and Fall

Today's tea is  Sterling Tea Caramel Nut.  Is it currently brewing as I type, but it does have a nice caramel flavor, and there are bits of almonds in it.  I think I've posted about it before.

Fall is here.  We had a bit of a snowfall Friday, and even though the weatherman predicted it, I didn't believe him and was surprised when I woke up and it was snowing Friday morning.  It followed a nice heavy rainstorm on Thursday night, so everything was heavy with snow.  Trees hung low, our canopy we have set up in the back yard is fairly demolished.  The metal rods that used to support the canopy in an arching upward fashion, are now arching down, so you have to duck under them.  Since this is the first September snowstorm we've had in four years, and the temps were in the high seventies all week prior to this, I don't think anyone was prepared.

So today I have some fall yard work to tend to.  Mostly coiling up hoses, picking up all kinds of branches that broke off the tree yesterday, and putting any leftover remnants of summer away.  While it's sad to see the warmer days go, at the same time I can look forward to having just a little more time to myself.  Since now my evenings and weekends won't be full of tending the lawn and garden.

Which means that this is the first weekend since the gardening began that I have brewed a full pot of tea!  Because while I do have yard work to do today.  I don't think it will take up that much of my time.  (why am I blogging instead of doing that?  I'm waiting for my two year old to settle down and nap.  At the moment she is in her room singing to herself.)

Today is the first day the farmers market down the street is selling pumpkins.  Since I always have put it off until the last second, I have always run around town finding out that not even Walmart has pumpkins.  This year I was prepared and a week or so ago I had cash in my car, waiting for the pumpkin sign to show its self.  Therefor, I have acquired quite the large pumpkin (as seen below)  Now I must keep it safe and chilled until Halloween, and we can carve it into a large "masterpiece"

You'll also notice the BOX of pomegranates.  I love pomegranates. In fact, that bowl of seeds pictured is already mostly gone.  This is the only box of fruit I will get from bountifulbaskets.org because at the moment, I don't can, or freeze, or any of that sort of thing.  And my husband doesn't think to eat the fruit in the house as a general rule, so I eat most of it.  So a box of peaches or apples would go bad before it could get used.  But a box of pomegranates won't.  I know because I got a box last fall and I pretty much ate the entire thing.  Which is not ever something to be ashamed about.  It's not like it's a pallet of cupcakes we're talking about.

If you have not heard of bountifulbaskets.org I urge you to look into it.  It is a very affordable way to try a wide range of fruits and vegetables.  Through them I have discovered my love for butternut squash, and Brussels spouts.    Not to mention I've finally learned not to hate bananas.  Like I said, my husband won't just snack on the fruit.  I have way too many frozen bananas in the fridge waiting to turn into cookies, or bread, or something to not just start eating them, and learning to like them.

Well, it sounds like a nap is not in the works today.  Looks like I'm going to have to bundle the little girl up and take her out there on my yard cleaning mission with me.

Until next time, enjoy that cup of tea!

(Can you tell I write so much better at three in the afternoon instead of about midnight?)

Tea and Teacups!

The tea this week has been fireside by The Old Wilmington Tea Company.  Mostly a cinnamon tea.  But it's a bit too cinnamon for my taste.  Probably thanks to some email I got a few months ago that said hot water mixed with cinnamon and honey is good for all kinds of things.  So I drank said hot water with cinnamon and honey for about a week or two.  Now, any seriously cinnamon tea makes my stomach turn a bit.  Which is sad, since I did enjoy such teas prior to that.

So this week I visited a thrift store, and found a pretty teacup to drink my tea out of!  I have been drinking it out of the prettiest coffee cup I own up until this point.  Granted, this is my cup for drinking tea at home.  I still use my silly cat mug at work.  Although, I am seriously considering going back to the thrift store to find another cup for work.

I had been looking all over town, and a few places online, for a nice teacup.  Why I never thought to look in a thrift store I don't know.  I wasn't even looking when I went to the store.  I was just there because of my job.

I don't know, there is just something about drinking your tea out of a delicate tea cup to make you feel all fancy, no matter what you are wearing.

Of course, I had to take a photo of my first cup of tea in my new teacup.

Tea and rain

This week has been crazy.  Between the constant overcast days.  The rain that has followed, and not to mention all the flooding going on, it's been different.

At the beginning of the week I stepped out, and found that fall had arrived!  Saturday we were running through the sprinklers, Monday I'm shopping for sweater dresses.

So, the tea of the week has been "holiday" by Old Wilmington Tea Company  It has the perfect flavor to begin the fall with.



As I was enjoying the fall weather outside, I was pondering pencils inside.

I wonder how many people, not counting school children, still use a pencil.  Anymore people directly type their thoughts, projects, or what have you's onto a screen.  Whether it is a computer, tablet, cell phone, what have you.

I find that when it comes to this blog, I just type it out.

When I have a moment to work on my book (because we all are working on a book right?) I use a pencil.

When I am at work, again, I use a pencil.  There is just something to putting a pencil to paper that seems to help me think creatively.

And it has nothing to do with the fact that you can erase a pencil.  I can erase text I type a lot easier than I can erase a pencil.  I am a bit heavy handed when it comes to writing.

To tell me, what is your preferred method of letting your creativity show?

Tea and meditation

Tea of the week has been a return to the cupcake tea.  Although, there really hasn't been much tea drinking this week.  It seems the busier I am, the less tea I have time to brew.

This week I spent quite a bit of my free time at home rearranging my office to fit in a desk that a house down the street abandoned.  The entire experiment started with moving a bookcase across the room. Then trying to get the desk into the room, only to find it didn't fit.

Of course, with a little (er, lot) of re-arranging I managed to get everything to fit, and ended up getting a lot of the clutter off the floor.

Which leads me to the actual point to this whole entry.

In creating a giant mess,  I managed to clean up an area that has been a constant thought in the back of my mind.  In the sense that I walk in the room to get something, look around, grimace, and shut the door.  In the end, the larger mess encompassed the smaller mess, as of course, I had to clean up the entire thing.

And now, I have an office that is a space I can relax in.

Now, the challenge will be keeping the clutter of the desk.  Being a flat space and all.....

Everyone needs a space that is there own.  A room, or even a corner.  Depending on your situation.  But whatever it is, make that space, take it over with the things you love.  Own that space.  It will help create a sense of self and and calm.

Or at least it will give you someplace to go when the world has gone mad.

I have returned

The previously mentioned pomegranate tea has been in my cup the last few weeks.  

My computer was almost drop kicked through the window. Or at least out the door.  It's acting a little nicer today, but still not completely behaving its self.  I blame Windows 8.  

Anyway.

Right now the only thing I have on my mind is a book I read years and years ago.  I have no idea what it was called, or who wrote it.  And Google is of no help at the moment.

So, what's a person to do?

Well, what this person is going to do is describe what I remember and hope someone knows what I'm talking about.

Pretty sure it was a Harlequin book.

It was about this woman who was blind, the starting scene is her running into a man after going to the library, literally.  He, of course, is completely upset until he realizes she is blind.  Romance ensues until the end when she shows up and can see.  She had lenses placed in her eyes and had voluntarily been blind for a year as research for newspaper articles (or something of that nature).  I want to say he had some kind of a scar or something on his face.  Not quite disfiguring, but enough that he was more comfortable with her when she was blind.

So, if this story is at all familiar to anyone out there, leave me a comment! I'd love to find this book again.