"The Thing About..." Thursdays: The Thing About Love

Nothing says love like goldfish, right?  My darling love sent me this picture one day and it melted my heart more than any diamond, flower, or chocolate ever could.

My favorite message from my darling love

I have hesitated to write about love.  What could a divorced woman have to say about love?

Several weeks ago my pastor said something along the lines of this:  Don't think because you are broken in a certain area that you are restricted from knowledge about that area of life.  You are valuable especially in this area because of the very experiences that broke you.
This hit home with me, big time.  My self-doubt likes to rear its ugly head and tell me I have nothing valuable to say; it likes to tell me that I can't write about organizing because every area of my home is not perfect or that I can't write about parenting because I don't have it all figured out.

I have a lot more respect for my pastor than I have for my self-doubt...so why do I listen to the latter so often?  Hmmmmmm......
So I'm writing today about love.  Deep, consuming, crazy love.  Love that makes you strong and weak at the same time, love that gives everything and takes everything, love that has only one condition:  love me back.
At 34 I found this love.  Love that I had convinced myself did not exist.  Love that I tried to tell myself was a fairytale, an illusion, a wish, a dream.  Love that includes mutual respect and admiration, love that makes you cry with joy and shout with exhilaration. 

Do you ever watch movies and think that love doesn't exist?  Of course it does.  That's why screenwriters write about it.  We all want it.  Few find it.

Look around at the people in your life today, find the love, and treasure it. 

We get so caught up in the busyness of dealing with life that we forget.  I certainly have been forgetting my darling love lately....by that I mean I have not been appreciating the love in my life, and we started getting on each other's case a lot.

Until we stopped and said, "Whats wrong with 'us'?"  And then we laughed, and cuddled, and remembered to take time to stop and love.

Perhaps having experienced marriage going off in ditch gives us a different perspective, I don't know.  I do know that we have vowed to take care of our love like it's a helpless infant in need of constant care.  I do know that we are human and we had to yank ourselves out of selfishness and getting caught up in selfishness and busyness.  (I'm the selfish one, not him.)

Grab a box of goldfish and make your own sign.  Start letting your darling love know he or she is treasured.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Soup's On!

I made this yummy soup yesterday:

Delicious and healthful!

If you read my blog regularly, you know I shared my struggle with gaining weight over the months since my mother passed.  If you missed it and are dying to read it, here you go:  Fashionista Friday: Bikini Ready?

It has been nearly a month since that post, and I am just about the same weight, give or take a few pounds.  I was counting calories and carbs, and seeing no result.  For the last 10 days I've been sticking to Weight Watchers, which I used to lose many moons ago.  After 1 week with that, I saw no change and am feeling very discouraged.

In 2009 my mother had her first surgical amputation.  She came to stay with me for her recovery, and I researched and planned diabetic-friendly eating.  It wasn't a "diet" per se; it was the right foods in the right quantities.  It was a lot of food.  She and I both lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks!  It was great.

I decided to go back to those basics.  The information I have, by the way, I got from an excellent work by Dr. Julian Whitaker in his book Reversing Diabetes.  It's not genius; it's whole foods and portion control.

I started yesterday with this soup. I made some seasoning changes and whatnot, but it's very similar.

Garden Soup, adapted from Reversing Diabetes 

5 cups water
2 cups cauliflower, chopped
1 cup peas, fresh or frozen
1 carrot, diced
1 small onion, diced
12 grape tomatoes or 1 small tomato, diced
2 cups chopped cabbage
1 apple, peeled and diced
4 ounces whole wheat pasta or spelt grain pasta
1/2 cup cooked garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1 T. olive oil
2 tsp. salt or more to taste
2 or 3 tsp. garlic powder, to taste
1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

Begin to heat water over high heat and prep veggies and apple, adding them to the water as they are ready.

Add the pasta and beans, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. 

Add oil and seasoning and simmer 5 more minutes.

Makes 4 servings, 2 cups each.

Interesting Info

(at least I find it interesting)

I wanted to fill you in on something I have learned over the years, and this does not come from the book I mentioned above....I have no idea what combination of resources brought this conclusion to me, or if it's a conclusion I read somewhere along the way...

In the U.S., whole grain is pushed and marketed widely.  Read your labels.  If I market something and put a small amount of whole grain into the ingredients, I can market that as "whole grain".  Watch what you're buying, and make as much as possible yourself.

Also, what is marketed in the U.S. in whole wheat products is typically semolina wheat.  This is not because semolina is the best grain for you; it is because it is the easiest to grow and and the cheapest to harvest and process.

I'm not saying semolina wheat is bad for you...I don't have the research on that....

I'm just saying it's not the best for you if you are watching your glycemic index.  If you are diabetic or pre-diabetic or insulin resistant, this is something to think about.

Spelt grain products are much more healthful and don't make your blood sugar spike like semolina products.  Try spelt grain pastas and breads.

Also, if you can afford $5 or $6 for a loaf of store-bought bread, start buying sprouted grain breads, muffins, tortillas, etc.  Sprouted grain products are not made from processed flour products, making them your best bet for health and for keeping your blood sugar stable.



***This is not medical advice and is my opinion, drawn from several research sources and my personal experience caring for my mother.  It is not a substitute for professional medical and dietary advice.***

Tightwad Tuesday: Family Fun on a Budget

7 a.m. I'm late starting today, and I've got to get my strength training in now or I will regret it.  Please come back after 9:30-ish EST for today's post!  Thanks for understanding!

9:30 a.m. Ok, I'm here.  Ready to have some fun without blowing up your wallet?  Good.  Let's go.

Photo courtesy of Simon Howden; FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Start a Savings Jar

Beginning a family effort to save for rainy day fun can be entertaining, competitive and rewarding for both parents and kids.  Ask the entire family to contribute spare change or a dollar here and there and watch the fund grow.

DIY Fundraising

No, don't ask for donations!   By family fundraising, I mean why not have something fun like a lemonade stand or bake sale in your front yard?  The whole family can participate and reap the benefits of the earned cash.  Last summer my children had a lemonade stand on what had to be the hottest day of the year, and they raked it in.  Everyone went out for ice cream with the extra dollars earned.  This was a real treat for us since taking a boatload of kids out for ice cream is not usually in the regular budget.

The Library is Free

I apologize if I am wrong and the library costs something in your area, but I've never heard of such a thing so I'm speaking from my own frame of reference.  Go to the library.  Get books, books on CD, DVDs, and even download audiobooks from the library website. 

During the summer, many libraries host a Summer Reading Club with reading challenges, treasure hunts and prizes for kids.  Check out the library; there are many activities available in every community.

Discount Days, Coupons, Groups

Want to go to the amusement park on the cheap?  Look up their website to view discount days, google search for coupons, and check out group rates.  See if you can get two or three families together to take advantage of group discounts.  Parks also often offer a twilight rate...a discounted entrance fee for entering the park after a certain time in the evening.

On top of entrance fees, games and food will break the bank quickly.  Grab a cooler and pack lunch; although you probably can't take it into the park, you can go out to your car for lunch and re-enter the park on the same day. 

Afraid you'll get thirsty?  Remember that if you go to the food stands at the park, they are required to give you a cup of water if you request it, so don't be afraid to ask.

There is no way to save with games.  If you feel you can't say no to game playing (I have no problem saying no to that), require kids to earn money before trip day that they can use for game play.  Or, just give them a limited amount to play games with.  If you don't set limits ahead of time, those dollars can fly and your wallet is empty faster than you could ever imagine.

Think: Education

Consider daytrips to factories or plants as family fun.  Learning how things work or how things are made is intriguing for kids and parents alike.  The kids will never know they are on an educational trip if you don't tell them!  These tours are often free of charge, fun and exciting.

Check out museums in your area.  This does not mean only staring at art hanging in large galleries.  There are children's hands on museums, industrial museums, clock museums, train museums...all kinds of things have been collected and are just waiting to be observed.  Art museums can be fun even if you don't have the "admiring-picasso's-talent" type of child....often they have family-focused activities using some techniques employed by various artists.

Get Out!

Go outside.  Local parks, national reserves, or just the sidewalk outside is full of fun and enjoyment, you just have to see it.  Bike rides, hikes, taking walks and playing sports are great free ways to enjoy family time together.

Nothing Fancy Required

Hey, if you want to go on a cross country trip or take your kids to another country and it's in your budget, be my guest.  These are valuable experiences as well...but if you are on budget, don't think that making great memories with your kids is out of reach.  Kids don't require fancy until they are taught by adults that fancy is required!  Keep it simple; your kids will learn to enjoy simple things.

Trust me.  I've done it...yep...I've done this one thing right!

Any more great ideas?

Monday Motherhood Musings: If You Dare Wear Short Shorts....

It's Sunday night, but I'm going to post this for Monday.  I am usually writing on the morning of my post, but occasionally write the evening or afternoon before.

Tonight, I can't sleep (second night in a row, yeehaw) so I thought I'd better get a jump on it since I will no doubt find the sandman somewhere around 3 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. will pass me right by.

Photo courtesy of John Kasawa; FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I was thinking about my post the other week about budget fashion.  I need shorts for my girls and have been watching sales and actually reading all the annoying email alerts from their favorite stores. 

I like to be kind of "cool" about what the kids wear...for example, when BubbaB8 came down the other day wearing jeans of a camouflage-patterned material and a shirt of the exact same colors but that had some kind of map on it, I said, "Oh.  You're wearing those together today, huh?  Or did you want to change your shirt?"  He said, "Nope, don't need to change, I'm wearing this."  O.k., bud.  If he's comfortable, who am I to complain?

Some of the dumbest fashion trends have come down because someone wore some stupid thing that struck some other poor soul as "cool" on that day, and they carried it on.

Who am I to lessen his chances of being the cool one that some dufus copies?

Rock on, Bubba, Rock on!

Has anyone noticed I tend to get off topic a lot?

What I really wanted to post about was the girls' shorts.  I mean, have you seen the shorts the teens wear? 

You probably haven't actually seen them because there is so little material that they look more like a BELT than shorts.

The girls wear them with spandex shorts under them for modesty, but still. 

I was talking to Neonatal Nurse Nancy the other day, as I do most days of my life, and we were reminiscing about the youthful, beautiful bodies we had before these babies came along and gave us lumps and bumps and saddle bags and saggy breasts and stretch marks galore. before we had our beautiful children.

We talked about how short our shorts were, among other things.  I was remembering in particular a skirt my father had a talk with me about concerning its length, or in his opinion, lack thereof.

Looking at teenagers today, the clothes of my youth looked like a nun's habit in comparison.

I think.

Or am I just old and not cool enough to remember?

I bought a pattern for a "Project Runway" pair of shorts.  It looks like no butt cheeks would be exposed in these shorts, and I think the "Project Runway" label will win my girls over.  I'm going to give it a shot, even though I don't quite understand why the pattern's smallest size is an 8.  It's going to take a miracle to get that down to a 00, which is what my girls need.

Wish me luck, and please notify me of any fabulous sales on shorts with more than a 3" inseam!





I'm getting tired.  Maybe I will be able to sleep now, since I won't be thinking about my blog.  Or maybe I will go lay in bed and think about Tuesday's post!