Cooking and Sewing and other Pursuits

The other night I made "Italian Bean Balls" served with thinly sliced cabbage cooked in a tomato/pesto sauce. 100% vegan, reasonably low fat (1oz of walnuts per serving), and 100% tasty! Another favourite to add to the growing list. It does have a downside though - I started prep at 5pm and we didn't eat until 6:30, and that was with Carm taking care of the Caesar salad (vegan and low fat as well, but high on flavour).

I actually made it out of the house and into the city! Tuesday I went to donate blood for the Ontario health study (I thought they were greedy, they took 5 vials), tried to meet up with my brother (he was busy), and met with a friend of Carm’s for a quick visit. Norm is a criminal lawyer who has represented some pretty interesting characters. We couldn't visit for long as he had a young client anxiously waiting to see him.

The last few days have been bright and sunny, however the wind has been picking up early afternoon. I can hear the wind howling and see the snow doing its dance across the fields and roads. The roads in our area are in bad shape, so it isn't a surprise to hear of chaos on the news.

I heard Grace say "Oh, you know what" this afternoon - it made me laugh, and also feel grateful that she wasn't swearing. Sewing has been happening, and it is 100% paired with swearing. I had quite a time with the bag that I made. I puzzled for days how to sew things together so when they are pulled right side out they match up. I finally had to get out some paper napkins, tape and a stapler to get it figured out. I forgot one thing though so had to make a few adjustments. Still, I think it turned out okay. Perhaps more dorky looking than I had envisioned, and I hope I don’t have to sew on stronger straps...

The fridge was delivered yesterday morning. Shelves were measured, and then a trip to a few dollar stores netted us some plastic bins for organizing. The fridge is “reach in as far as your arm can go” deep, so some containers to corral the stuff in the back are a must. The giant bag of 5 heads of romaine gets its own shelf, there was room for 4 boxes of the mixed greens, Grace’s food and the dogs food all fit. We got everything else in, including the stuff from the little fridge, there was even room for a few bottles of beer. Not exactly sure where the bottle of bubbles will fit though (which should have been our first priority)!. I don't have tons of leftovers right now - that will be the real test. We were able to turn off the little fridge, which is a good thing.

I am grateful that I needed a bigger fridge to hold all this lovely fresh produce. What a wonderful country we live in that there is such bounty. I am grateful for taking a day of rest from exercise, and feel even more motivated to get back at it today. I am grateful that Carm does such a good job with keeping the snow cleared away - it is a lot of work. I am grateful for the sun! I am grateful that I remembered that it is not spelt greatful!

 

The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only.  ~Joseph Wood Krutch

Snow Dancing Across the Earth

On the treadmill this morning I was treated to the spectacle of the snow dancing across the earth to the music sung by the wind. The spruce trees stood on the edge of the dance floor, moving to the beat as they waited to be asked to dance. The snow seemed tireless as it danced on and on without pause. The sun made an occasional appearance, dusting the earth with sparkles.

Beautiful, but treacherous. I saw a few snowploughs go past, one even backed up a few times to remove a particularly snowy section of road. Heavy coats, scarfs, and warm mittens are the attire today.

I just saw the garbage truck go by, with the guy at the back clinging on to his perch. How cold must that be! The houses are far apart here, some have even 1/2 km or more between them, so he wouldn’t get much chance to warm up by getting on and off – he’d be frozen in place at the back of the truck. I felt slightly guilty to be in a warm house.

My grateful today will have to be a nice warm house, and never having had to have a job that kept me in the freezing cold. I was/am blessed.

The tulip blossoms are nearing the end of their lives. We know they are not gone forever though. A cold sleep and they will bloom again. I think they are still beautiful.

 

Are ye the ghosts of fallen leaves, O flakes of snow, For which, through naked trees, the winds A-mourning go? ~John Banister Tabb

Women of a Certain Age

I still don't have much going on. I am reluctant to go even outside, let alone go somewhere in the car - I just can't take the cold this year. I'm quite content to look out the windows at the frozen wasteland, and feel no real need to actually experience it!

Thank goodness for the treadmill; at least I'm still moving! At the beginning of last week I started putting on my treadmill clothes as soon as I get up. Guess what - I haven't missed a day since. When I am dressed and ready, it is so easy to say to myself, just 10 minutes – even when I don’t really feel like it. Once I'm on, the 10 minutes easily stretches into 30, and often more (this morning I made the 10 minute promise and ended up at 90 minutes!).

We watched a tv program about the Eagles last night - very informative. I'll be honest, I didn't really like the Eagles, associating them mainly with "Hotel California". Well, DUH! There is a ton of other music that I do like - A LOT. I kept shaking my head with each song they presented; how did I not know it was done by them? More 70s music to add to my embarrassingly large collection. The 70s - my formative years as a music lover.

I'll be downloading a few Linda Ronstadt songs as well - she was in some of the scenes and is a talented musician with a lovely voice.

I haven't moved forward very far with my sewing projects. I did get Kabira's new outfit finished - she is happy to wear the lighter fleece version during the day. I did some mods to her other outfit (I added another layer on the back), so she is toasty warm at night. Which is a good thing, as the weather has turned cold again. The bedroom is freezing, but I'm happy to sleep out of the covers much of the time (something about being a woman of a certain age). Oh my gosh! "A woman of a certain age", I guess that's me now.

I read somewhere that 60% of certain age woman have insomnia. This is not a good thing for me as sleep, or lack thereof, is a sure trigger for hypo-mania. My mood is holding out, although yesterday morning I did have a minor freak out about sleeping so little (again).

Last night I did a little better, but was up at 6am :-(  Considering I try for 9 or 10 hours, a measly 7 just won’t do. One would think that with the extra time in my day I’d be really productive. Not so. Instead I spent time on my computer designing forms that will hopefully keep me motivated in my fitness and weight loss regime. If only the work of planning would do the actual work. Twenty nine years of working, where the work was writing and documenting (as well as other technical work), has me convinced that the form is all that is required. Oh, I’m not wording this right, I hope you get what I’m trying to say…

One of the big lessons I had to learn with horseriding, is that just reading about something, and learning it intellectually, would not transcribe into my body knowing what to do. It was very frustrating.

I think the lack of sleep is showing itself in this long, boring, rambling post!

Take it easy, take it easy
don't let the sound of your own
wheels make you crazy ~The Eagles