It is a beautiful sunny day here at last so I intend to catch a few rays before they disappear.
My post is brief today after such a long one last time. I will finish responding to commenters later today or tomorrow.
In the meantime, instead of sharing a photo of a bright sunny day I will share with you some beautiful cowboy art set to one of the best voices I've ever heard for all around soothing music in the country genre.
I was listening to this wonderful singer on Saturday while I cleaned the kitchen cabinets.
It brought back a lot of memories of when I was a teenager and my siblings and I would be babysitting every Saturday night (and more often too). It also brought back lovely memories of Kenya. Believe it or not, the music of Don Williams, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton is very popular in many parts of Africa, including Kenya.
When I was babysitting, I would also watch television or listen to music as most teenagers do. Lots of times the parents had a wonderful music collection of all kinds of country artists. Included in one household was the music of Don Williams. The song I've chosen to share is one of my favourites of his because though the words may depict someone who is on the razor's edge of depression, he is also believing in God and holding on to the promise of a better day coming. The music itself is fast paced and very upbeat and makes me want to dance for joy. (As an aside, there is also a video on youtube which shows Don Williams' visit to Zimbabwe. If you'd like to see it you can see it here . It is a 1 hour documentary. If you can't watch it all, at least watch the first 3 minutes. It will touch your heart).
This video features some fantastic cowboy art too which I thought might be fun for some of you. I am not a cowgirl but I grew up in cowboy country. Many of my relatives were rodeo fans. I also have a few cowboys in the family, the youngest being one of my nephews.
Even though you're growing up, you should never stop having fun.
Nina Dobrev (Bulgarian-Canadian actress)
Hi friends,
I've had a very busy few weeks and yet I've been feeling oh so tired. In some ways I've got a lot done and in other ways not.
Each year I find the months between November and end of February hard to take and especially January and February. I live in a place where we get so little sunshine over that period and by January I am really feeling it. This year I think more so than usual.
These kinds of days are still a few months away.
I've already done a lot of reading this month since I haven't been up for a lot more.
Here is a good book if you are interested in adventure to other lands or if you have an interest in elephants.
I've also done a lot of organizing in terms of setting myself up with things I need to move forward in the coming months: a stash of material to make a few items for my mother, a summer wardrobe that I've been pulling together over the last few months (almost done), a few additions to the winter wardrobe and replenishing linens and towels. It feels good to get these things out of the way. Bit by bit I've been also making my way through the house getting things tidied. I've got bigger ideas for moving things around but that will take a bit more time.
I found I haven't been sleeping well at all this month and my body really feels it. Then I started taking Vitamin D3. I don't know if that helps with sleep at all but since we don't get a lot of sunshine for many months where I live, I know supplementation is a must. I think it is working already. After just a few days supplementation, I got the urge to start cleaning my kitchen cabinets and reorganizing them. Trust me, this is a job I don't like doing. It is very hard to reach deep into and even to see into the backs of these cabinets. So as you can imagine, it is a job that very much needs doing and one has to feel like doing it. I'm glad I'm feeling like it now so I don't waste the sunny days to come with cleaning the cabinets, lol. Here is a link to read more about Vitamin D3 supplementation in case you might need it too.
I was inspired by seeing some videos of young women who totally organize their homes (I thought I was organized). Seriously, I personally think people have too much stuff (myself included). Since I travelled to Africa many years ago now and experienced just how little so many people have, I've learned that we really don't need that much to live on a day to day basis. Food, shelter and a few garments are the key things besides family and friends.
Over the ensuing years since my first visit to Africa, I determined that I needed to downsize my "stuff" and have been doing so bit by bit. I do have to buy and replace things when they break or get worn out. Add that to "stuff" I see and think it will help me organize or I can use it in a new recipe, and so on , and it does make it a bit more challenging to get to a good point of balance with "stuff". I keep trying. Knitting supplies and fabrics and all the tools required to make anything with these materials are what I tend to spend on besides food and household related items. Yarn and fabric are things I need to buy new if I want to make things. (I gave up on buying used yarns because of the problems of not having enough to make any real projects I wanted. Now I buy new yarns and fabrics on sale as much as possible. It can take up quite a lot of time to build up the yarn stash and yet it still takes so much room to store until you have enough to start working with. I truly don't have space so I've had to purchase some baskets and try to limit myself to the colour batches I am going to use in future. The challenge is to use these things and not just let them become clutter. Some of you will remember that I also inherited a lot of fabric and craft items from my mom when she moved into care. Though I did get rid of a lot, I still have a lot that I kept. All the medical type equipment takes all the space in my downstairs storage unit and then some. I also have many of her papers and my dearly departed sister's papers and personal mementos too. I hope to give a lot of this to her son when he is settled down post education years.
Though I am fairly organized I do still have areas of too much clutter. It happens easily in a small home when you have a number of different collections, and if, like me you are keeping things that belong to others. I need to keep better organized in some areas. One area that needs a better set up is in my kitchen with spices and canned and dried goods. I don't have a pantry or a closet or garage where I could store food. So I have no choice but to make the best use of one awkwardly placed and shaped kitchen cabinet. It is the only real place I have to store food.
If I had a pantry like the one in this video http://youtu.be/E0yF0Iz74yQ I would have no issues with keeping my kitchen tidy. The woman in the video is an organizational expert and has lots of wonderful ideas. However she has so much space in her house that very little of what she does can apply to someone in a small space like me. I can still learn a little from her and from some others on youtube and see how I can use the ideas in a more modest way. Virtually everyone who has a video on youtube to organize small kitchens has far more cabinets than I do, and a pantry to boot. Alternatively they are living in a pied a terre and I don't fit into either of those categories.
I went to Dollarama Friday and bought several containers. I don't know exactly how many I might need so for now I bought 4 large and 4 medium and I think I am going to need at least 4 more medium containers. That is probably all that will fit into my cabinet anyway along with the canned goods. I may also purchase some fabric "boxes" to put a lot of my canned goods. Some of the cans are currently "hiding" underneath a stand alone cabinet in my kitchen. If I put them in neat little boxes they perhaps go above the cabinets. It is warm up there so they probably wouldn't last so long but this will accomplish two things: using them up more quickly and putting an end to my stock piling. The meal planning I started recently is going to help a lot with both of these goals.
I also spent time the other night re-arranging other kitchen cabinets so I can ultimately clear more of the counter space. It is very difficult to do since I have so cabinet and counter space overall but every little bit of improvement helps. I moved my coffee pot closer to the kitchen sink where I can easily dump the grounds into the garburator without dripping on the floor.
Starting in February all grounds and food scraps need to go to the common compost for pick up by the city each week. This is a new rule of the City Council to help conserve the environment. I totally agree with the change but it is expensive proposition for the City. Taxes go up when things get expensive and there is the problem of rodents if the garbage is not picked up often enough. I guess what I'm saying is I'm not really sure how sustainable this program will be. I read recently that another municipality in the area started garbage compost collection twice a week. They've already had to reduce compost pick up to once a week when they realized how expensive it going to be.
Soon our City Council and provincial government also want to have us vote on building yet another skytrain (above ground remotely operated trains). This again means more tax hikes and we've just paid for a new skytrain on another route and and all the other structural upgrades for the recent winter Olympics. We've also just paid for significant highway construction and upgrades. I am just not feeling up to paying for yet another skytrain though I really would like one. Increases to strata fees and special building levies come for me like clockwork every winter and so it is a lot to contend with when it all happens in a short space of time. It will be interesting to see if the property owners of Vancouver vote for or against the new skytrain because I know pretty much everyone would like one despite the cost.
The good news is my pension is indexed so I got an increase this month. The bad news is the cost of everything has gone up and there is more to come. In these kind of circumstances where I feel pressed, I do everything I can to remind myself just how blessed I truly am and I am grateful to have a small raise which I know many people do not get.
I'm going into my 2nd week with the menu planning. I have to say it is working out very well and I'm enjoying it so far. I also noticed that my blood glucose levels have already improved and rather than worrying about them getting too high, I have to watch that they don't go too low. Getting too low is more scary to me than getting too high though high blood glucose over the longer term is definitely not good. When I go too low I end up eating stuff that isn't too healthy just to bring my blood glucose back up. I'm sure that as I continue I will find a happy medium for just the right way to eat. I am pleased with myself and think I've found a new tool to help manage my diabetes.
I started the weekend shopping for containers for dry goods. Saturday I shop for fabric to make mom a skirt. I will also take in the new movie "Selma" about civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Sunday is fellowship and I look forward to seeing friendly faces at church. In between I'm doing a lot of things that most of you have to deal with every day as well: cooking, cleaning, catching up with correspondence and telephone calls. I don't have any social planned for tomorrow like I often do. I feel like taking in a movie on my own because I have errands to run afterward. I just find it easier that way.
My post started with a quote about having fun. Sometimes I need to remind myself to have fun especially when I'm feeling tired and a bit down because of constant gray skies. Today I made my own fun. While I made dinner I listened to music in my kitchen using my phone and mini-speakers. This is so simple and something I never do though I know a lot of people do. I'm hoping to listen to music in the kitchen more often. Mostly I listen when I am sitting at my desktop with the headphones on. I may need different mini-speakers because the ones I have don't have very good volume. Or perhaps I can simply dig out my small radio from the emergency kit I've prepared and listen to the radio.
Tomorrow I will have fun getting out and about and seeing a movie. I'll also feel like I've accomplished something when I get the fabric for mom's skirt. Next I have to make a sewing day later this week as I now have 3 full slips and one long skirt to make.
Whatever your plans are, I hope you too have fun. Before I know it the winter here will be coming to an end.
Here is another week's menu plan. If you'd like to see my last menu plan you can see it here.
I'm leaning more toward more vegetable based dishes this week. All vegetable dishes this week are new to me except for the Red Pepper soup which I've made before (see photo below). I plan to look to look for a few more tasty vegetable based dishes to make which I hope to add to my repertoire. It might take awhile to find just the right vegetable based dishes.
There are so many places to find good recipes on line that it can be time consuming. Here are some links to find healthy food recipes if you too are looking to plan healthier meals. I'll be making my way through them bit by bit.
I got these links from MyFitnessPal and in the past came across several of these links looking for recipes to try.
So how did week 1 go with the meal plan?
I think it went quite well. I did find it a bit labour intensive as I had a lot of different things on the menu. For the most part I had many of the main ingredients on hand and only needed to shop once. Frankly, I just don't eat that much for lunch and dinner so I skipped one
or two lunches from my first menu plan. Though I am working on trying
to eat more in the morning for health reasons it will be a challenge for me.
In my effort to make sure I eat something for breakfast other than cereal, I baked muffins twice this week. The second time I made more of them to freeze ahead for breakfasts on days when I'm in a hurry. Most days I will eat hot oatmeal with goji berries (for sweetener). Sometimes I add nuts. Lunches will consist of leftovers and sometimes a new thing thrown in here and there with a salad or fruit to round things out.
The cooking routine and time for preparation and cooking should also get easier as I get used to the new routines and new recipes. I do know how to make many dishes without a recipe however I am trying to achieve: a consistent diet, a more balanced diet and one that isn't laden with carbs. This will involve looking for new low carb recipes for breakfast that don't require me to eat a lot of meat. So far the recipes I've found require too much effort so I will keep researching.
My meal plans start on a Saturday rather than Sunday like most people. Sunday seems to be the day when most people commence their menu plans. My choice of Saturday had more to do with when I had time to draft a plan than anything else. In the past my big shopping was done on Wednesdays and Thursdays before the weekly sales ended and the new ones would begin. This may change too. I'll know more as I move forward.
I will be trying to sit down with the flyers next time to plan the menu.I don't intend to post every menu on my blog only my first several attempts as I work it out and see how it is going. I'm realizing that I like the freedom that comes with not having to worry or plan what to eat every day since it is already planned out. If I don't feel like eating something, I can simply switch the menu from one day to another. Making the turkey was a good idea too. Though it was quite a skinny bird, there was more than enough left over for freezing and for making soup.
Saturday
Breakfast - Whole Wheat Pancakes or Waffles with banana
Lunch - Red Pepper Soup
Dinner - Pot Roast & Roast Vegetables, salad
Red Pepper Soup
Sunday
Breakfast - Muffins or leftover waffles
Lunch - sliced beef and green salad
Dinner - Stuffed bell peppers (using brown rice & leftover roast beef)
They
have testified before the church of your love and friendship. You will
do well to forward them on their journey [and you will please do so] in a
way worthy of God's [service]. 3 John 1: 6
Saturday went by in a flash. I was invited to a friend's for lunch today and had a plethora of errands to run before and after my lunch date.
Alas, I could not sleep last night. Though my eyes were tired I just could not sleep. I even woke up and warmed some milk to drink. That has helped before but not this time. It made my eyes more sleepy but I still could not sleep. I did a lot of praying for others over this time as God brought remembrance of each one and their needs forward. Maybe that was the real reason I could not sleep. Someone needed prayer support. Did you ever have a night like that?
So I woke up much later than anticipated after only a few hours sleep. I just had time to get a few things done around the house and then I had to get going. No time for shopping. Off I went to meet my friend, her husband and her children who were just getting home as I was arriving at their door step.
My friend woke up early this morning and made a wonderful lunch of: a tomato based soup, chapati (Indian flat bread), braised green beans and broccoli, roasted organic chicken, brown rice, and salsa (with avocados and other veggies). She also made chai tea to drink and a nice fruit platter for dessert. I can always count on my friend for a healthy and delicious meal. I felt so blessed to have such a delightful spread for lunch and very much enjoyed my fellowship with her family and one of their boarders.
I actually took my camera with me hoping to get a photo of the food but was so busy talking and eating that I forgot to take the photo, lol!
After a few hours there, I helped to clear the dishes and rinse them so that whoever is doing dishes later (her husband apparently), had a lighter load of work. Of course like all good hosts they didn't want me to clear away dishes but based on personal experience, I know what a chore clean up can be after one has had the fun of eating and sharing good conversation. It was also great to see the children. They are such dears. They kept asking me if I was going home every time I got up. I said no but do you want me to and they would shout "NO, we want you to stay and come more often!". They were so cute and the eldest boy who is 6 said it had been sooooooo long since we had visited last and when can I visit again. It is so nice to have such loving children to visit as well as my good friends.
After lunch and tidying, I had to rush as the business day was almost done. I needed to buy some contact lens. It is getting harder and harder to get contact lens by shopping around for a price here. I'm not sure what has happened but this lat year all opticians are telling me about the laws in place preventing them from selling contact lenses without certain paperwork. When I questioned as to whether this is new law or regulation they tell me it has been in place for 10 years! I didn't understand why then, I am only now (well actually the last 2 years or so) experiencing problems getting a prescription filled without a "fitting" and without a prescription written in the last 6 months.
My prescription is about 8 months old and I'm told I need to get a new one. One optician even told me that I need a higher prescription for my contact lenses based on my eyeglass prescription. I told her my eye doctor doesn't share her opinion and I don't want to go to a higher power which will then make it difficult to read. I'm due for my annual eye exam in May and I don't want to make any big changes until I know the results of that examination. What it seems to boil down to is more ways to make sure the consumer pays more money to get more examinations which they do not need. Once a year should be quite fine unless you have an eye problem that needs more frequent observation.
About 2-3 years ago the government stopped covering annual eye examinations as part of the insurance we all pay into. We now all have to pay extra for that unless you have diabetes. So this rigamarole around special contact lens fittings seems to correlate with when eye doctors and opticians started insisting that you (the patient) get more frequent eye exams. One required for eye glasses and one required for contact lenses. Before all they did was use the eye glass prescription to also fill your contact lens prescription. So who are they kidding? But I digress.
My mission was to get some disposable lenses because I have run out of them and my eyes are feeling the strain. I can't wear my glasses because my eye sight has gotten worse in the last year and a half. That means since I got my last set of glasses prepared with special lenses and all the high cost of that, my eyes have weakened and so the glasses are distracting to look through and tire my eyes out. I am waiting until my next annual check-up in Spring to see what has happened since last year and what I should do about the glasses.
The good news is that I was able to find a nice optician who understood my situation and who has dealt with me a few months back. I bought some lens from him and was so grateful and joyful. I told him he was a "lifesaver". He said he liked being a lifesaver *smile. Needless to say I will deal with him again should I decide to get a new eye glass prescription in the Spring.
After my adventures in hunting for vision aids, I hopped on the bus back to my neighborhood. I needed to buy some veggies and spices that I will be needing for this week's menu plan. I got home and prepared the lamb dinner from my new plan. It was quite good. I made up the recipe based on lunch a long-time friend made for me many years ago. Since I had that lunch with her I've made the dish about 3 times (I don't eat lamb that much despite really enjoying the dish).
After eating I made a quick phone call to my mom who told me she had been trying unsuccessfully to reach me. Whenever she dials my number, which she has memorized correctly (she recited it to me), she gets a message that the number is not in service. This is very frustrating for her and understandably so. She reported that she is still under quarantine due to an outbreak of influenza in her care home. This is about the 4th or 5th day of quarantine. This is difficult to deal with too. So we prayed together after a short talk and then I had to go.
Smoked Black Bean Dip recipe can be found at Oprah.com
After that I responded to a friend who lives several hours away by plane ride. He is going through a low point. Wanting to throw in the towel after just starting to get back on his feet. I don't think he realizes how he sabotages his own happiness and success. He goes through a familiar cycle of working hard, feeling upbeat then inexplicably (to me) feeling in a funk and defeated. He is also very bright and has loads of trouble getting along with anyone for very long. His relationships tend to be quite dysfunctional and I choose not to be too heavily involved in that but want to be a supportive friend where I can and within my boundaries.
I thought he had reached a turning point after going through a particularly difficult time in the last year. He was starting to realize that he needs God and a spiritual life to overcome his challenges. We've chatted briefly over several times in the last month and he's been very upbeat. As recently as two nights ago he had wonderful news concerning his future. Today he sends me a note saying he is burned out and wants to quit. I'm afraid I've not much patience. It is okay to feel tired and maybe even feel like quitting but don't drop these "emotional bombs" on your friends and expect them to "fix your emotions". In the past I've done it for him and many, many others. I recognized that in myself and put a stop to much of it when I realized I was a "fixer" or an enabler.
Until he can overcome his self-limiting behavior he will not be able to meet his goals. I
suggested some emergency scriptures and daily Bible reading and prayer. (He thanked me later so I think he will be okay). Of course he needs others to support him in prayer too so I will add him to my prayer list. He needs to learn how to cope with adult things and how to deal with and overcoming the challenges that arise in his life. We all need to learn those skills. Some seem to learn much better than others and some have more negative circumstances and backgrounds to overcome but overcome they must if they are going to move forward in life. They also need God and loving supportive friends but they must first and foremost take responsibility and become accountable for their own actions.
Oh boy, I did not plan to go there at all but there you have it. Maybe this post will help someone else who is an enabler or someone who thrives on chaos and dysfunction and needs to get beyond it. I hope so.
Anyhow friends, I still have to prepare the smoked black bean dip and pita bread for tomorrow's church social so I best get at it. We gather every week after the service and have a little fellowship. We all prepare light snacks (different teams take turns preparing food on any given week) 3 weeks out of the month. Once a month we have a full meal together and everyone who can brings a contribution to the food and drink. It is always nice to find a simple, portable recipe to take to such potlucks. It is also nice to sit and chat over coffee and refreshments.
Have a wonderful Sunday!
Update: Friends I only made half the black bean dip recipe and it was plenty so if you are only making for family you might want to halve the recipe. I also found it very hot without adding the jalapeno. I think I accidentally doubled the chipotles so be careful if firey hot isn't to your taste. Here is a link to the recipe.
