Tuesday Ramble

Good morning and a happy Tuesday to all.  When classes are in session I usually stay home on Tuesdays to catch up on household things, and even though there are no classes, I still plan on staying in today.  Went running about a lot yesterday and ended up in pain.  When am I ever going to learn that I can't carry the loads that I used to carry?  It's just so hard sometimes to admit to myself that my body is not the same body I used to have and adjust to the new me.

Wasn't planning on going out today, but hubby is sick.  Nasty cold which seems to be settling in his lungs again.  He has Stage 2 emphysema, so that's no good.  Last time I ended up calling the ambulance, and he spent a few days in the hospital for COPD exasperation.  So today I'm going to head to the fruit stand and get all the ingredients for a nice ginger tea.  I use fresh ginger, lemon, cinnamon, cloves, and honey for sweetening.

I was so proud of myself the other night when we went to Sunset Cove.  While everyone got these thick juicy burgers and cheese fries, I settled on a Western Salad with Grilled Chicken--lettuce, tomato, black beans with a hint of cilantro, corn, some shredded cheddar cheese, and balsamic dressing.  So delicious and satisfying.  I was very glad for many reasons that I had made that choice.

However, dessert was another story.  After we left Sunset Cove we stopped at a homemade ice cream shop which was 10 minutes away.

I ended up having a scoop of vanilla fudge and a scoop of chocolate covered with chocolate syrup, homemade whipped cream and a cherry.  Hey, I could have had the three scoop sundae with as many toppings as I wanted so all in all I did well.  And I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I swear, if I worked in that shop I'd weigh a ton.  I remember back years ago, when I was 17 I worked evenings in a bakery.   I ate and ate and ate--eclairs, cupcakes, cookies, sometimes my friend and I even ate a whole cake. But at that time, my metabolism was different, and I never gained. 

To make up for it, on Sunday night I had a salad, and last night I made a delicious vegetable stir fry.   

 Mixed veggies, olive oil, garlic powder, parsley, and Shawarma spice.

(Cumin, Coriander, Allspice, Garlic, Paprika, Turmeric, Salt Recipe)

I adore Middle Eastern seasonings for both their taste and the health benefits they offer, and this is one of the best. I use it on chicken, veggies, just about everything.

Mrs. Santa gave me this little gift the other night.  It's vanilla flavored lip balm.  I imagine it tastes good, but I put aside until Winter comes around.  That's when lip balm comes in handy.

Monday Morning This and That

This is it.  My first Monday with no place to go.  Well, actually not quite true.  It's the end of the month so I have to get to the banks to get bill money ready.  Then, after a stop at the store my Monday is totally free.  Oh, what to do with myself!  My Reiki lessons are awaiting.  I've already been attuned to Level 1.  Working on Level 2 now.

Had a wonderful fun-filled weekend.  So what if Christmas was canceled.  We did have Christmas on the Hudson, and it was fantastic as you can see.  Just being with family again warmed my heart.   We had so many laughs.  I actually forgot about my pain.  We also talked about just forgetting about Christmas 2017 and focusing on Christmas 2018. The gifts are already at my daughters house, and there they are going to stay.  Christmas candles for my granddaughters will always be welcome. Barbie dolls for my great granddaughters.  They never get too old for that.  And a ghost game for my great grandsons.  I don't think they will outgrow it.  Only change will probably be the little stuffy I bought for my youngest great granddaughter.  I'll probably by her something new and give the stuffy to my newest great granddaughter.

Tarrytown is a little town located in Westchester County, New York.  It's actually quite close to Sleepy Hollow, another place I hope to visit soon.  The towns in Westchester are so quaint.  It would really be a great place to live if I drove a car.  Not much in the way of public transportation up there...and I imagine it's not so cheap to live there either.

 A beautiful evening as the sun begins to fade.  

 Santa's boat.

My great nephew.  So proud of this boy.  He's 16 years old and attends the High School for Law Enforcement and Public Safety.  He had plans on becoming a police officer.  Now he is talking about joining the marines.

My great neice.  This is the little girl who was missing that time.  She is just entering high school.  Her mom is in for a hard time.  I can see it now.  Underneath that sweat shirt was a very exposing tank top. 

 Santa and Mrs. Santa.  Mrs. Santa was a wee bit young in my opinion. 

Frosty.

 Another view of Santa's boat.

 Frosty's boat.

 This was so beautiful in person.

Part of the parade of boats.

That's my other great niece.  She is quite a handful.  Her mom already has problems with her.  If you ask me, she is far too spoiled so does anything she wants.  She ruined the night out for many of us with her constant demands and carrying on. 

At the entrance way.  My great niece actually popped the balloon set up that was across from this one and was doing her best to mangle this one until someone stepped in.  Her mom pretty much does nothing, and God forbid someone chides the child.  Mom gets mad.

 One of the boats. 

 My son, my daughter, and myself.

This is my niece/goddaughter.  She's sweet and loving and works hard to support her four children.  But, sometimes giving them everything they want is not the answer. 

Fabulous, fabulous night.  Stayed up way past my bedtime and ended up with a two hour nap yesterday...which messed with last night's sleep.  Tossed and turned until about 3 am, then back up at 7.  No naps today for sure.  Have to get back on schedule.

Sunday Selections

I love receiving goody boxes in the mail.  It's become my latest addiction.  Well, maybe not quite an addiction, but an enjoyable treat.  So when I found this little shop on Etsy that sends out surprise boxes, I had to give it a try.  The owner shops around in different little stores and thrift shops for little trinkets and sends them out as subscription boxes.  I figured I would try one.  I was very pleased with what I got.

This is an awesome astrology book by a very well known astrologer.  It's a classic.  I had it many years ago, but lost it in a move. In the book, Jansky  explains how the signs of the zodiac relate to different parts of the body and how the houses of the natal chart are related to our food preferences and nutritional needs. He shows that the planetary aspects in your chart represent the flow of energy among the various systems of the body, which can indicate potential health problems. 

 Celestial themed mug.

Just love this little butterfly card.

 Handcrafted healing charged candle to keep the sniffles away when fall and winter arrive.

Aries necklace.  My astrological sign.

Dried rose buds and petals for divination, dreams, happiness, love and healing.  Dried purple iris flowers which symbolize faith and wisdom.  Dried wisteria flowers to raise vibrations, overcome obstacles, and drawing prosperity.  It is a harder to procure herb.

Moss agate stone as an addition to my planter box.  Plants love its energy and grow healthier and faster when near it. Snowflake obsidian, 10 small pieces, to bring balance to the body, mind, and spirit. Helps keep one centered and focused when any type of chaotic situation presents itself.  Great stone to keep in spice rack.

Celtic cross charm bracelet.  I love it.

Glass perfume/oil/potion jar.  This style of bottle is from Egypt.

Tartan dress, but it's a bit short for me.  It's flannel and will look great with a black turtleneck and worn over a pair of black stretchies.

Will I order from this person again?  Indeed I will.  First she sends you out a questionnaire and once you fill it out with your likes and dislikes, she goes to town searching for objects to fill you box with. Maybe not this upcoming month, but definitely in the future.

Have a good one.

Saturday Thought

(This clock is about 25 years old.  It didn't come with the squirrels.  Hubby found two wooden squirrels in the store, painted them brown, and put them on top of the clock.)

Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour. With such people the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life.

Charles Dickens

Friday Roundup

Good morning all, and a happy end to the week. Funny, how I have now been retired for almost 5 years, and I still look forward to Fridays.  Nothing special happens over the weekend.  When you retire every day is a weekend day.  Guess it is just an ingrained habit.  Have to run out today and get a few things for the weekend.  Tomorrow night my goddaughter is picking me up, and we're going to meet up with the family at Sunset Cove for the Christmas in July festival.  So looking forward to it. 

Our Christmas is delayed again, though.  My son's car needs work and will not make it that distance, and my goddaughter was just in a 5 car pile up on the Verrazano Bridge.  Thank God she is okay. No injuries.  Could have much been worse.  Cars can be replaced but lives can't. The car is not up to a trip to Pennsylvania right now.  (Sigh)  Seems Christmas 2017 is not meant to be.  It's been one thing after another since Christmas Eve.   Well, if we don't manage to have our family Christmas,  it will definitely save me money on Christmas 2018 since gifts will already be made and bought. That's the positive about it.

Stayed home yesterday.  The weather was so nasty.  It's been one of those humid weeks with storms popping up every day.  Yesterday was the worst.  Truthfully, though, I don't think I would have gone to class even if the sun was shining.  I participated in dance on Monday, and the pain in my knees and back woke me before dawn.  The back I am used to, but me knees?  It was a burning pain just under the knee, and upon doing some research, I discovered it's probably tendonitis.  Put my knee braces on and rested yesterday.  Now with a month off, I will finally have time to heal...if that's what it is.  At any rate, I see my doctor this month and will talk to him about it.

I'm a snacker.  Can't help it, but it's really hard to find totally good and healthy snacks which are soy free aside from fruit, and I can only eat so much of it.  What happens is when I eat the same things over and over again I get bored so I decided to try the Graze box and see what it's all about.  Yummy treats are delivered every two weeks.  Not totally WW friendly, but each snack package says it is for one serving, but I can easily get two out of it. My first box included some really awesome goodies:

White chocolate with wild blueberry toasts--wild blueberry toasts with a creamy white chocolate dip

The cheeseboard--cheese flavored cashews and almonds, cheddar cheese bruschetta and gouda puffs 

Cinnamon banana energizer--chewy banana coins, honey cinnamon almonds, raisins and pecans

Sweet and spicy beet crunch--dried,not fried beet chips, pure sunflower seeds and jalapeno chickpeas

Anytime energizer-- dried sour cherries, soft dried pear slices and California walnuts. 

Vitamin E defense--roasted hazelnuts, redskin peanuts, jumbo raisins and cranberries 

Sweet rhubarb jam  rhubarb, soft apple pieces and cranberries

Yesterday I made my WW meeting.  No weigh in.  That will come next week and keeping my fingers crossed.  I've been out of control, and I know it.  If I have to pay next week, it's all on me, and my lack of willpower.  Had a great meeting about self-esteem and how so many of us always put others first and feel guilty when we take any time to do something for ourselves.   At one point, a member's phone rang, and it was the Golden Girls song so they were added as a topic to our conversation as role models.  Each has their own personality, their own likes, each knows what they want and goes for it.  In other words, they take care of themselves.  All of us need me-time, and we all deserve it.

Have a wonderful fun-filled weekend.

Throwback Thursday

Dinner at mom's house.  Sadly, we haven't had many dinners at my place, and it has never been the entire family at once.   My apartment is just too small.  That was the one drawback of downsizing.  I lost two extra rooms--dining room and the extra bedroom which served as my office and storage.  Now, I cannot even fit a large sofa in my living room so seating is at a premium.  When I first moved in I had found it very cozy, but now I am looking forward to something a bit larger.  This was last year on Easter.

In front of my building.  From left to right:  my daughters ex hidden behind great grandchild Damian who is held my my grandson, Scott, my daughter, my son, and myself. 

 Myself, grandson Scott, and great grandson, Damian.

 Myself, my daughter, and my son.

 My son, Scott, my daughter, me, and my daughter ex-husband.

 Dinner ready to go into the oven.

 Time to eat.

 My daughter and son stuffing their faces.

 After effects.

I'd thought that I had plenty of time to do it all, but it just didn't work out that way.   I didn't have time to do any banking so I ran out to the store, bought two pound cakes and some canned icing.  Put the pound cakes side by side, mixed some almond extract and food coloring into the icing, and put some sprinkles on top and no one knew I hadn't baked it.  Delicious. 

Wordless Wednesday: Three Years of WW Milestones that Started With One Charm

(I need a new charm holder)

Tuesday Ramble

Happy Tuesday.  Well, yesterday was my last day of Monday classes, and I'm feeling kind of blue.  I'm really going to miss the classes and the friends I made there.  I know it's only a month, but I've grown so attached to the classes and the friends I made there.  I do have qigong and dance tomorrow, but it all depends on how my back feels.  

We had a pizza party in arts and crafts.  I don't usually eat pizza much as I love it because of my blood pressure, but I had one slice and really enjoyed it. Started making this bracelet in class yesterday, but there is much more to do.  This is the foundation.  She even gave us some homework to do during our month off.  LOL!!!

Awhile back I told you I canceled my Ancestry membership as I wasn't getting anyplace, but I do have it until the end of the month, so yesterday for the heck of it I went to my tree to check out the hints.  And what do I find?  Another cousin.  His mom was my dad's sister.  There was even a picture of her. As you may recall, I never knew anything about my dad's family until I started doing genealogy.  Oh, we visited with his twin and his wife at Christmas, but the rest I knew nothing about.  Never met my paternal grandparents.  Never even knew their names.  So finding him was a biggie to me.  Three years ago I found another cousin, and we finally met last summer.  

I sent this latest cousin a message and am hoping to hear from him.  It's also got me to thinking that maybe I should just keep the standard Ancestry.  It's only $19.99 per month which I can afford.  The World Ancestry I had was $39.99 a month.  I don't need that anymore, but it would be nice to keep the U.S. just in case.

This is one of my favorite pieces.  Ocean Jasper.  Sorry, the camera does not show its true beauty. Holding this piece supposedly provides a direct connection to the wisdom and spirits of the ocean and encourages us to tune into what brings us bliss and channels the power of the ocean for releasing and purification. It transmits light both physically and energetically. Ocean Jasper is found on the edge of the sea in Madagascar. 

My little unicorns arrived yesterday.  I'm a sucker when I see on Etsy that it's the last one available.  I just have to have it.  Bad practice on my part.  I end up buying things I don't need just because I don't want to be left out, but these little unicorns are so special and magickal.

Have a good one.

Monday This and That

Another week begins.  Are you ready?  Today I head out to class.  Too bad it's a rainy day.  Hot, humid, and wet.  It's my last Monday classes until September so I really don't want to stay home, but we'll see how the weather is when the time comes.  It's hard for me to carry an umbrella as my fingers lock around it.  They do open, yes, but it's not a nice feeling.  Darn arthritic fingers. 

I'm sure going to miss my classes.  I figure that during August break I will attend an extra WW meeting on Wednesday to have a place to go. It certainly won't hurt. Maybe something else will come up.  Been looking online for places to go.  I'm hesitant to go back to a senior center.  I am not into bingo and cards.  I want to do something. Can't spend all my time in the park.  Those benches are definitely not back friendly.  

Speaking about my back, it  is not getting any better; in fact, it is not only worse, but now my whole body aches. I'm not sure whether the exercise is too much on me or if this is just an unexpected deterioration, but I'll see if there is any kind of improvement when I don't do it in August.  If there is, then I know.  I do plan on continuing with meditation, arts and crafts and will be learning loom knitting when classes open in September, and if any good courses are offered this fall semester, I will return to Brooklyn College.  

We had some big storm Saturday night into Sunday.  Lots of rain, lightning, thunder  and wind.  

 This is what I found in front of our building when I left the house Sunday morning.

On Friday I posted a salad I made, and several of you have never had jicama.  Here is what it looks like.

It's a Mexican root vegetable that is mostly eaten raw and seasoned with lemon or lime juice and chili powder.  They consider it a super food, but I don't like the taste which is hard to describe. It is crispy and juicy like a firm pear, but it tastes sweet and starchy like an apple, but not quite like an apple.

Sometimes Blogger messes up with comments, and sometimes they go into spam.  For this I apologize.  I wish I didn't have to moderate, and for the first few years I didn't, but then I discovered that by not moderating, I open myself up for harassment.  It was about 6 years ago, just after Easter Sunday.  I had made a totally innocent post about how back when I was growing up we always dressed from head to toe on Easter Sunday.  My mom even got me new socks and shoes.

So, I posted that I was surprised to see that this was no longer the custom, that people had attended Easter service in jeans, that at the most 3 or 4 people dressed up.  Innocent enough, right?  Not to one woman.  She told me that I should be so focused on how I dressed for church.  I should focus more on what's in my heart.  She went on to call me a sinner and say that she would pray for me.  My response was to tell her that taking the time to dress appropriately for church is a way to show respect.  Her response was that she felt sorry for me and would continue praying for me until I found Jesus again and went on and on and on.  I decided there was no use in arguing and not only deleted her messages and marked her as spam, but also decided it was time to moderate.  

Have a good one.