Tuesday Ramble

This will definitely be a ramble because yesterday was a lost day for me.  Spent most of it sipping peppermint tea and nursing a sour tummy.  Was it worth it?  Definitely.  As a family we spend far too little time together.  But, will I eat so crazy next time?  I don't think so.  Not after this little bout.  

My silly family.  Carrot out of the nose, celery out of the ears.  We have so many laughs when we are together.

A normal family picture.  

Found an old notebook with a couple of dreams I had in the past.  Have to start paying attention to them again.  If I don't write them down when I wake up, most of them disappear.  But there are some that stick with me.

Dream 1:  I was at a senior center. There was one row of seats on each side of the huge room. After lending my magazines to two women so they could save their seats, I left mine to ask a question of someone. When I got back someone had taken my seat. I sat in another chair and found that the goody box they gave us was empty so I was looking for the people who put them together. Next thing I knew I was in their psychiatrist's office and he was accusing me of taking drugs. He made me take off my clothes so he could test them. Imagine how I was feeling sitting around naked with all these people around, but I was more embarrassed about his accusations. He said he wanted to keep my pants for further testing and gave me some unsewn pants that were held together with huge safety pins. Later I found myself running around the city like that. Last I remember I had gotten home, called a lawyer, and went back to the center to complain and tell them I was suing them. Then I woke up. Never did find out if I got rich or not.


Dream 2:  I guess it was morning because I was sitting in a bar sipping a lemonade with some friends, and I kept saying my boss was going to be mad at me because I was going to be late for work. Little kittens were running around all over the place. The dream, conversation and all, seemed so real until I realized I didn't have any shoes on so I told the people I was with that this was only a dream. They didn't believe me. I also remember telling them that it had to be a dream because I wouldn't run around Manhattan in bare feet in the dead of winter...and the job I was supposedly going to I hadn't worked at in 20 years.

Moving on we finally left and I found myself lying on the ground in front of the place frolicking with all the kittens. Everyone else was gathered around talking. Finally I got up and said, "This really does have to be a dream because I don't have my cane.'" We all started to go our separate ways.  I started to follow the one person I knew was going in my direction, but he was going so fast I couldn't keep up. Then I found myself in a subway station with many trains. No one could tell me how to get where I was going.  I woke up.

Have a good one.

Monday This and That

Good morning everyone.   It's been a busy week weekend and no breather in sight yet.  Heading out to the center in a few, and it's one of those long days with classes in the morning and afternoon.  That's okay.  I love it.  

Didn't really finish anything in Friday's jewelry class so there is nothing to show.  The thumb on my right hand was really aching, and that's a necessary finger for beading.  Felt better the next day, but I didn't have any time to finish my necklace.  I was so darn busy.  

On Saturday I had to first go to the bank, then shopped for  a birthday gift for my great nephew, then dropped those things off at the house, picked up my shopping cart and headed to the fruit stand to pick up some items for a pasta salad I was making for Sunday and then went to the 99 cent store to get something to put it in.  

Pasta, broccoli, peas, peppers, sun dried tomatoes, red onion, Italian parsley, and Italian dressing.  Everyone loved it.

On Sunday my goddaughter picked me up and we headed off to PA.  Didn't much feel like it because the weather was so bad and my bones were aching, but we don't get together often.  Had a nice time once there.  We celebrated my son and my nephew's birthday.  Awesome food.  And delicious Napoleon Cake.  Yummy.

 The birthday boys.  

Italian Napoleon cake--layers of crispy pastry filled with a custard cream.  The best cakes ever.

So today I am not going anyplace.  My tummy is acting up.  Ate too fast and too much....and too much of a variety of foods my tummy is not used to--hamburger, hot dog, etc.  Woke up at 4 with a belly ache, went back to sleep, and climbed out of bed a short while ago.  Sipping peppermint tea now.

Have a good one.

Sunday Selections

The focus of the March Awakening Box is confidence. Very nice little box. (I am a bit behind with posting these).

Opening the box.

Emptying the box.

Zebra Jasper.  I love this little stone.  It's one that I didn't have already.  It allows you to be optimistic despite life's stresses and gives you more initiative to tackle your problems.  Encourages you to dream and turn your dreams into reality.  Because it is a grounding stone, it allows you to tune into Mother Earth and find joy in your surroundings.

Orange Calcite.  Allows you to take control of your life.  It allows you to release negativity that is holding you back and also allows joy and optimism to flood your consciousness.  

Green Onyx.  Beautiful stone. Unfortunately, my camera is not too good on picking up colors.  I did the best I could.  Boosts your confidence.  Attracts positive energy.  Good for those lacking courage.  Especially good for those who fear standing up for themselves.

This amazing linen and room spray is infused with herbs known to promote self-esteem and confidence.  Essential oil blend of Bergamot, Coriander, Cardamom, Cedarleaf, Cedarwood, Fir Needle, Pachouli, Sandlewood...and mica powder.  Inside is a selenite crystal.

And, of course, an amazing picture.  I look forward to these each month.

Saturday Quote

In the garden I tend to drop my thoughts here and there. To the flowers I whisper the secrets I keep and the hopes I breathe. I know they are there to eavesdrop for the angels. 

Dodinsky

Friday Ramble

Good morning.  Another Friday, another weekend upon us.  Had a busy week which is definitely going to continue.  On Sunday we are heading out to Pennsylvania to visit my daughter and grandchildren.  We are having  a cookout so I plan on making a pasta salad.  Cannot go empty handed.  I would make the following salad to bring along, but my so says my daughter will probably not eat it.  She likes all those creamy high fat foods.

Mexican Black Bean, Corn, and Tomato Salad.  Love this.  Made it this week for my no meat dinners.  The beans gave me the protein I needed.  1 cup corn, 1 can black beans (rinsed) 4 plum tomatoes, red onion, cumin, lime juice, olive oil, and cilantro.  So, so tasty.  But I want everyone to enjoy what I bring.

I think I have mentioned before that I feed a cat that hangs out in our courtyard.  Well, he disappeared for 5 days and I was really getting nervous.  We have a number of them who show up, but he hangs there all the time.  I even named him Scout because he is the first one who shows up much like a scout would do.  The gray one is Gray and the tuxie I call Tuxie.  (So original)

(Scout)

So this week all 3 of them disappeared.  I got scared that someone may have put out poison.  Gray and Tuxie are not regulars, but Scout practically lives there.  Then, two days ago he shows up, but now I am wondering if HE is actually a SHE.  Scout was noticeably thinner around the middle, and after eating, quickly disappeared.  No more hanging out.  It makes me think that there are kittens somewhere out there.  I could be wrong, but it does add up.  Thinking now that I should think of a female name.

Went to WW yesterday, but did not get on the scale.  I know I said I wasn't going to run away from it anymore, but, hey, I did have a trip to Olive Garden this week.  And sorry to say I was glutton.  Ate so much I could hardly walk.  That has got to stop...and stop now.  I am spiraling out of control.  Not good.  

Have a wonderful weekend.

Thursday Odds and Ends

My backyard after a snowstorm.  Moved from there awhile ago.  That was a small tree standing next to the pole light.  The snow was so heavy the branches reached the ground.

Another picture after the same snowstorm.  A friend told me this one looked like a postcard. 

I had to climb these stairs every morning to go to work.  I could NEVER do it now.

My hair used to be pretty long.....and I used to be pretty chunky.

This beautiful garden was located on the top of the building across the street where I used to work.  It used to give me such peace to look over at it.  A green oasis in mid-Manhattan.  

A multi-colored pasta salad I made awhile back.  To be honest, it was so long ago that I forget what I put in it.  Guess it wasn't yummy enough to make again.

An excellent book for women.  It is filled with quotes, exercises, and inspiration.  The chapters are dedicated to the different spiritual paths women are able to experience and express their own points of view. 

Three of the Mary statues in my church.

My 5th great grandfather.

Bought this set of votives through Ebay.  They were supposed to be Yankee Candles, but funny thing was, every one smelled the same....including the green which was SUPPOSED to be pine.

Bought this cute little teapot at a thrift shop many, many years ago.  Unfortunately, it is now among the missing.  Don't know whether it was lost during the move...or perhaps during one of my de-cluttering frenzies I got rid of it.  Can't remember.

My 3rd birthday.

My uncle's boat.  That's my uncle, me, and my mom in the front seat.  Cousins are in the back.  Sometimes I would stay at their house over the weekend, and he would allow me to take the boat out all by myself.  

My special place.

Tuesday Ramble

Good Tuesday morning.  Had a nice day yesterday.  We didn't have a leader for our Wellness group so we made up our own.  We talked about retirement and how we settled into it.  Were we ready for it?  Or were we forced out?  I was a little bit of both.  I was definitely ready for it, but I also believe that things were made difficult on me to make me want to leave.  Like the time I gave my boss 12 treatment plans that I spent hours on, and she claimed she never got them, and because she didn't find them, I must have done them.  Then, after I reprinted everything, she found the first ones I had turned in.  Little things like that.  I was getting too old, and I was standing up for my rights.  That's the truth of what happened.

NYC Emergency Management then came to talk to us about the importance of having a 'go bag' that you can pick up and leave with if you have to evacuate.  He discussed things we would need to have in the bag.  Hate to admit it, but I am totally unprepared for an emergency.  Going to start preparing my 'go bag' this week as one never knows. 

Things to include are: copies of important papers, extra car keys, copies of prescription medications, soap, baby wipes, light sticks, toothbrush, toothpaste, flashlight, batteries, small AM/FM portable radio, plan where to meet if separated, cash in small bills, roll of toilet paper in case you have to go into a shelter, small first aid kit, and extra pair of glasses. It's also important to have a whistle on your key chain.

Lunch was chicken, egg noodles, and spinach.  Afterwards we had Food for Life.  

Made healthy turnovers. Two are sweet potato and the other is apple.  They don't look the best, but they sure are delicious.

Here are some of the earrings I made over the weekend. 

Wednesday is the last day of the intern who runs our Holistic Medicine class.  Since she loves meditation, I am giving her one of these lotus earrings as a parting gift.  I will miss her.

It's good to have these all on hand.  Not only for Christmas, but for little gifts throughout the year.  Nothing like a homemade gift to say "I appreciate you".

Have a good one.

Monday Morning This and That

Good Monday morning.

On Friday the center was closed for Good Friday.  On Thursday night I had made a list of items needed to make myself some healthy and low point food for this week.  Then on Friday I headed to the fruit stand.  

The first thing I made on Friday was a Mexican and Summer Vegetable Soup from my WW Fresh Mex cookbook. I changed it a bit though. I don't like zucchini so I use mixed vegetables instead. Now just have to cut up an avocado to put in it when I serve it.

My son and I were supposed to drive out to PA for Easter dinner with the family on Saturday, but the weather was so bad, and my son doesn't have the greatest car, so we decided to put it off for another time.  The ride is scary enough without rain beating down on us.  And coming home when it's dark?  Forget about it.

So on Saturday I made some jewelry gifts, earrings which I will show tomorrow as I didn't get pictures, and this delicious WW approved Braised Cabbage and apples.  

Very simple with few ingredients--small head of red cabbage (shredded), 2 apples (peeled and cored), red onion, 2 cloves garlic, 2 tbs. sugar, and red wine vinegar.  Heat 1 tbs. of olive oil over medium high heat. Saute the onion and garlic until soft.  Add the cabbage, apples, vinegar,  and sugar.  Cover and cook on low heat until the cabbage is tender.

Got up early and headed out to church Easter morning.  Had to leave extra early because I had to put some money on my metrocard.  Thankfully, the weather was nice.  No rain and the sun was breaking through.  

Tulips in the church yard.  So pretty.

A new Olive Garden opened only 15 minutes away from us, and that is where we went for Easter dinner....first. There was a 2 1/2 hour wait. I'll wait, but not for that long. At that point I was so hungry I would have been happy with the Wendy's nearby, but Ralph said lets drive out to other one...our usually which is about 40 minutes away. Okay, so that we did and we had less than an our wait. Got a huge plate of whole wheat pasta and meat sauce and brought half home for dinner tonight. Filled up on salad and yummy breadsticks. Thank goodness I have a whole week and a half yet to lose this.

Today I'm off to Wellness and Cooking for Life. Another busy one.

Have a wonderful day.

Happy Easter

 

An Easter Greeting to every child who loves Alice

Dear Child,
 
Please to fancy, if you can, that you are reading a real letter, from a real friend whom you have seen, and whose voice you can seem to yourself to hear wishing you, as I do now with all my heart, a happy Easter.
 
Do you know that delicious dreamy feeling when one first wakes on a summer morning, with the twitter of birds in the air, and the fresh breeze coming in at the open window——when, lying lazily with eyes half-shut, one sees as in a dream green boughs waving, or waters rippling in a golden light? It is a pleasure very near to sadness, bringing tears to one's eyes like a beautiful picture or poem. And is not that a Mother's gentle hand that undraws your curtains, and a Mother's sweet voice that summons you to rise? To rise and forget, in the bright sunlight, the ugly dreams that frightened you so when all was dark——to rise and enjoy another happy day, first kneeling to thank that unseen Friend, who sends you the beautiful sun?
 
Are these strange words from a writer of such tales as "Alice"? And is this a strange letter to find in a book of nonsense? It may be so. Some perhaps may blame me for thus mixing together things grave and gay; others may smile and think it odd that any one should speak of solemn things at all, except in church and on Sunday: but I think——nay, I am sure——that some children will read this gently and lovingly, and in the spirit of which I have written it.
 
For I do not believe God means us thus to divide life into two halves——to wear a grave face on Sunday, and to think it out-of-place to even so much as mention Him on a week-day. Do you think He cares to see only kneeling figures, and to hear only tones of prayer——and that He does not also love to see the lambs leaping in the sunlight, and to hear the merry voices of the children, as they roll among the hay? Surely their innocent laughter is as sweet in His ears as the grandest anthem that ever rolled up from the "dim religious light" of some solemn cathedral?
 
And if I have written anything to add to those stories of innocent and healthy amusement that are laid up in books for the children I love so well, it is surely something I may hope to look back upon without shame and sorrow (as how much of life must then be recalled!) when my turn comes to walk through the valley of shadows.
 
This Easter sun will rise on you, dear child, "feeling your life in every limb," and eager to rush out into the fresh morning air——and many an Easter-day will come and go, before it finds you feeble and gray-headed, creeping wearily out to bask once more in the sunlight——but it is good, even now, to think sometimes of that great morning when the "Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings."
 
Surely your gladness need not be the less for the thought that you will one day see a brighter dawn than this——when lovelier sights will meet your eyes than any waving trees or rippling waters——when angel-hands shall undraw your curtains, and sweeter tones than ever loving Mother breathed shall wake you to a new and glorious day——and when all the sadness, and the sin, that darkened life on this little earth, shall be forgotten like the dreams of a night that is past!
 

Your affectionate Friend,

LEWIS CARROLL

Saturday Quote

Believe nothing because a wise man said it.

Believe nothing because it is generally held.

Believe nothing because it is written.

Believe nothing because it is said to be divine.

Believe nothing because someone else believes it.

But believe only what you yourself judge to be true.

 Buddha

Friday Roundup

Good Friday morning on this Good Friday.  Hard to believe a week is over already.  Seems like it just began.  Not sure what's my agenda today.  The center is closed for Good Friday.  May just hang out and make some jewelry.  Ordering out tonight so no need for cooking.  Just a do as you please day....a "Me" day.

 Daffodils finally opened all the way.

Amazing that no classes were canceled this week.  Wellness was excellent.  We discussed memory and memory loss.  Played a few fun games.  Discussed normal memory loss vs. the loss that comes with dementia and Alzheimer's.  Very interesting. 

Tuesday I stayed in all day.  Later in the day hubby went to drive his sister out to see her mother-in-law who is in the hospital, and I turned my bird app on and lay down for a long nap.  I sure needed it.  

Wednesday's Holistic Medicine class was processing feelings.   The class is great, but it has taken quite a turn since it started. Now it has become more like the groups I used to run when I was working. We don't touch on anything holistic anymore, aside from meditation and body mind connection.  In fact, it has veered off topic so much now that I've decided that I am not up to running it. I ran too many groups while working, and I'm all grouped out. So, unless another staff member picks it up, that group is about to end. 
  
Yes,  I could probably turn it back to holistic practices, but do I really want to be bothered? Everyone seems to enjoy the group session so I'm not going to mess with it. Then, again if I really wanted to, I could do what I did with one of my groups when I worked. I had a little daily inspirational book, and each group we would use the topic of the day. But, no, I don't want to be responsible. I'm retired now and doctor's appointments and stuff comes up when you are older. In fact, on May 1st I finally get to see the ENT.

Thursday, of course, was my WW meeting.  No weigh in this week.  I'm so broke I have no money to lay out if I go over.  Really have to work on my budget.  It's hard when you are on a limited income. 

Zero point dinner last night.  Roasted Cauliflower (yummy), mixed veggies, and stir fried veggies with grilled chicken breasts. Stir fried with ) Olive Oil Pam (0 Points), Peri Peri sauce (0 points), and garlic powder.

Have a wonderful weekend.  

Thursday This and That

I could not resist getting a picture of this sky over my apartment building.  It almost didn't seem natural.

Nothing like the joy of children at Christmas.

Me, 71 years ago when I turned one.  Hard to believe I just turned 72.

James Gandolfini volunteering to serve Christmas dinner at the shelter where I worked.

The clients chipped in to buy this cake for my retirement.  

 I had a client with tremendous artistic client.  

Another painting by the same client.  He was fantastic. 

My son bought me this chef salt and pepper shakers about 10 years ago.

 Crossing the bridge to Atlantic City.

At one time, my neighborhood was Scandinavian.  Hence, the name on the neighborhood park.  Brooklyn has always been a borough of changing neighborhoods, but it appears now this has turned into an ultra fast changeover. For example, the Italians of the famous Bensonhurst neighborhood are now the minority, and the Latinos of Sunset Park are being pushed out by gentrification.