Life is fair

This weekend I'm at the 4-H fair.

I've been every year since I was 9.

I met hubs there at my first fair - I told my sister I met the boy I was going to marry (I was a smart kid).

We got engaged there 10 years ago yesterday - hubs asked me in front of every one with a ring in one hand and wildflowers in the other (swoon).

Yesterday as I was ring mastering (it's a term) I saw him walk down with a bouquet of wildflower I still swoon.

I'm soaking up vitamin d and good energy and seeing kids who WILL make for a bright future for us all

This weekend, for me, life is (the) fair and (the) fair is life!

what childhood memory would you like to share?

Silly little side notes

1. This weekend we cleared everything out of our PACKED shed... When I say packed I mean it - remember we went from big to leetle and from keepers to donaters. I'm pretty sure that hubs, A (nephews wife) and I all worked our butts off!

2. In said shed I found a box of stuff (well I found many boxes of stuff) but this one had all the stuff that I've been looking for the whole last year... Some examples: my birth certificate, marriage certificate, audio recording of moms voice, hundreds of dollars of gift cards, etc

3. It's fun having kids around sometimes - two boys can entertain themselves for hours with anything. Example 2 sponges... 6 year old called them tasers and they were playing cops and robbers. When 6 year old tasers 3 year old, 3 year old replies "you can't kill me I'm a zombie"

4- speaking of zombies hubs and I split up for Friday night. Thanks to the magic of gold star pricing he got to go see a zombie play (totally nothing I'd enjoy) with 3 of his friends and I went to mass hysteria with A. I'm sticking with I had a better time (A and I laughed until it literally hurt) but he came home with a goodie bag and a kazoo (3 year old said thanks)

5- I went to a yard sale this weekend but it wasn't your "typical" yard sale. The woman was clearing our her store and her store was Wiccan and full of crystals and books etc. I came home with a few cool gifts!

6- I made hubs the coolest take on tabbouleh last night. No bulgar so I used orzo, no olive oil so I used Italian dressing. But it had in it from my garden mint (orange mint technically), parsley, grape tomatoes, and cucumbers

+++what's you do this weekend? Are you a keeper or a donater?

Somebody that I used to know

This weekend my niece got married.

Let me say that again... My baby niece, who taught me I could love someone to the point that I'd forget about myself before she was even 2 hours old, got married.

Her wedding was SO her! She got married barefoot in the town park and walked back home with her (omg my niece got married) husband! Their reception was a pasta social created by the ladies at her church :-). She asked me to make zucchini bread and I did! 12 loaves!! The flowers were all in mason jars and positively charming.

But aside from seeing my beautiful niece get married (did I mention that already?) I saw people that I haven't seen in years!

I was on the slide (yes in my dress) with my nieces and nephews when across the monkey bars and swings I saw the man who played piano at my wedding. "the man who played piano at my wedding" does not describe Bill! Bill's hug has always to me been a sanctuary. Somehow I forgot in the turmoil of time that THAT sanctuary was still there, still there for me! I hugged him I hugged his beautiful wife, I chatted with his fabulous daughter and I breathed. Not the breathing you do to stay alive but the breathing you do because you are alive (body, mind and spirit).

As I stood with that wonderful family I saw him, this him being my father. A man who I haven't seen in a couple of years, a man who people I've met in those last two years assume is dead. He is, to me anyway. And as I stood there breathing in love and contentment I realized something: my father is nothing to me anymore - I wish him no ill will nor do I hope to reunite, he is just well "somebody that I used to know" I've moved on.

And well Bill's family and I? We've promised to keep better in touch and I've said I'll trek to Syracuse to visit them :-) because they are so much more than people I used to know!

do you have people in your life who just knowing their out there makes your world a better place? Tell me about them...

It's all in finding what you want

This week I've been taking my nephew's wife to look at houses. I think I've mentioned before that my nephew lived in ohio and is military. With odds of him being deployed again fairly high his wife thought moving out here where she would have "a village" to help raise their 2 young boys was a good idea.

They still own a gorgeous home in Ohio and so they've been looking at mobile homes. We've gone to two different parks (chosen a clear winner park!), and toured a number of homes.

I've fallen in love with a couple (what can I say a year in Gregory has made me fall in love with little places & cozy nooks) and A has chosen some that she liked too! We've been on opposite views on some (though I shut my mouth and say nothing) but on Tuesday we found what looks like THE ONE! 3 bedrooms, 1000 square feet, new flooring, etc etc.

Now it's the coming to terms and agreeing

*isn't that pretty much everything in life? Find what you want, come to terms with it and agree with your decision

+++do you love house hunting? I do but it's also exhausting+++

Interesting!

The other day I had the opportunity to do something nice for someone I don't know. I did it without their knowledge (which to me is at least half the fun of doing something nice). I was so excited that I called hubs to tell him, and then had to pull over to the side of the road because I was shaking so hard. I guess the adrenaline of being sneaky caught up with me. After a few minutes I went on my way.
But the glow of having done something cool has totally stayed with me, which is kind of awesome :-)

+++have you ever preformed or received a random act of kindness? Share it if you'd like!+++

Woohoo it's Friday fill in time

I woke up positively giddy this morning! I'm not sure why - maybe the bounty from my garden last night(seriously look at how many tomatoes - and yes that is corn!) my new mug(note the beautiful pearl) or that the terror dog is leaving today... Yup probably that but still a great day :-)

Courtesy of http://fridayfillins.blogspot.com/2012/08/and.html

1. Well, ok, maybe I AM SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC ABOUT A CLEAN HOUSE
2. BUT HAVING IT MESSY STRESSES ME OUT AND that's NOT a stretch!
3. When I'm making GOOD DECISIONS I FEEL BETTER BODY MIND AND SOUL
4. I WISH I WERE a bit healthier.
5. And frankly, I COULD BE IF I WORKED HARDER AT IT.
6. YOUR PAST root of all evil. But NOBODY NEEDS TO LIVE IN THE PAST
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to WATCHING THE OLYMPICS tomorrow my plans include GO TO YOGA, PLAY WITH SOME KITTIES AND GET RID OF THE DOG and Sunday, I want to WALK WITH A FRIEND OF MINE WHO TEXTED ME JUST THE RIGHT MESSAGE AT THE RIGHT TIME YESTERDAY :-)

So I know I normally just do the fill in and have no other commentary but I have a leeeetle story to share.
About half a mile from my house there's a cute little corner store (named... The corner store) they are a 7 11 esque place but they also offer subs and ice cream and pizza. So the other day the poodle and I walked down to get him an ice cream (vanilla soft serve with carrot and bacon "sprinkles") and while I was waiting in line there was 2 older men (mid 59s I'd guess) laughing and having a great time as they order 2 steak and cheese subs and a pizza. They were happy and glee filled and it was contagious. Soon they were pulling me in on their stroll down memory lane and THAT is when I looked at them. One of the guys had on a hospital bracelet and still had the EKG stickers on his chest. I couldn't help but wonder if his steak and cheese and pepperoni pizza order is what caused him to need an EKG. It was none of my business so I just smiled and listened to that one time they downed a 30 pack on a dare.... It got me to thinking though, what does it take to get us to take our health seriously?
I have family who leaves there room at the hospital to have a cigarette (wtf)
And I myself have purged leaving an appointment with my nutritionist (again wtf)
We all need to be grateful for each minute and do all that we can to extend the minutes.

+++are you guilty of not taking care of yourself? What are you doing this weekend to take of you?+++

Random but true

Here's a post of randomness none of which could be a whole post on its own.

-I'm dog sitting. I think what might be the worlds worst dog. The first thing she did in my house was to take a book from 1882 OFF THE SHELF and shred it.

-I'm dying to finish part 2 of ode to Gregory but can't because I've got all this dogs stuff everywhere and my dog is moved into the office (because the other dog is toy/treat/food aggressive so they can't be together)

-I mowed my lawn yesterday - its my most hated chore :-(

-I have 2 horse shows this month. 1 of which I am designing the trail class for. And I REALLY want to hand draw it (because I think it's cuter) but I doubt they'll let me.

-I brought cupcakes to the vet yesterday.

-I have two weddings on August 11 and one of the shows August 12

-my neighbor is in Russia and has been for 3 weeks - I miss her and can't figure out Skype for the iPhone :-(

-we are supposed to be going to the circus on Saturday and I have no desire to go.

-I want to do another race - my medal bowl looks like it needs an addition!

-we went to Halloween at my nieces campground and as always had a great time

-I have a 92 year old pen-pal whom I love and have never met

Well I better end this before I never stop

+++what about you? What's random in your life?+++

Ode to Gregory part 1 -out with the old

Who is gregory you ask? My house, hubs and I named him after Gregory house MD... What? People name their cars - I can name my house!

It seems weird to write a love letter to my house, but I do a lot of weird things so why not add this to the list?

1 year and 1 day ago I moved from the only address I'd ever known to a smaller house across town. The reality of it was that it was a purely financial decision (well moving was - this house was kismet - we'd already decided on a town house). There was no way we could afford to keep "the big house" between the mortgage, taxes, utilities and upkeep we were falling deeper and deeper into debt (between $1000 and $1500 A MONTH). Hubs never would have suggested we sell it - it was after all the place I was born, fortunately for a VERY short time I saw an extremely frank psychiatrist who was like "regardless of money you will never heal in that house, add in that you can't afford it and it will kill you before you foreclose". I went home talked to hubs and within a week was getting the house ready for sale.

Selling it was --- hard? I was not worried about the building but the STUFF inside. We knew we would be downsizing and I was a packrat. The emotions of getting rid of things "that mom had _____" (bought, touched, or looked at) but slowly with the help of a stager that our realtor recommended we went through every last thing! We cleared our cluttered >2000 square foot house & painted and FINALLY put the beast up for sale. We priced it fairly (enough for us to find a town house in a town we would like - we had been pricing and looking at them and pay off our mortgage) and had an (accepted) offer within 4 days (really the first day but we couldn't formally accept because we had posted an open house for the weekend and we were obligated to have it).

Then it was the torture of inspections and title 5 and every other tedious thing that could go wrong! Ohhh roof that decides to leak and I have to repair? Check! Ohhh propane line I hit with the lawn mower for the first time ever and have to replace? Check... This list sadly goes on and on.

Meanwhile we were house hunting. But I think I'll leave that for part 2!

*****note all these pictures were taken AFTER staging - and all my stuff was in storage :-)

+++have you ever sold a house?+++

The not wordless Wednesday

So I left off hitting my groove! I was going to conquer the world

What's that you say?

The "was" what's up with the was? Well hubs bought me a new blender.

My old blender (probably 5 years old and bought at target for $20) was dying... A slow and painful death. The kicker was that it no longer chopped ice or frozen fruit it truly was just a VERY low powered stirrer.

I try to have a green monster each morning (some days the green is green tea ice cubes in rice milk but it's a trial) but my blender said no more. So... Hubs went out and bought me a ninja! Hiya!! This one here:
http://mobile.walmart.com/m/phoenix;jsessionid=B471BA3BB69FD485FB6133690418646D#ip/Ninja-Frozen-Treat-and-Drink-Maker/19855960
But in orange! It is amazing!!!!!!
So the first thing I decided to make was a rice milk, pomegranate seltzer water, star fruit, romaine lettuce smoothie (with a dropper of nu naturals orange stevia seriously this is the best stuff ever! I won some in a blog giveaway and have even opened my Splenda in months! It is 100% worth 12 a bottle here's a link - https://nunaturals.com/product/550 check it out!) well in about 30 seconds it was perfectly smooth. I had a few sips and my face started to burn. I have enough allergies to know that this is bad. I grabbed my benedryl and put aside the drink and guzzled benedryl instead. Long story short it got worse and worse and I ended up in the ER.

While in the emergency room I learned a couple things:
1- renal patients (ie me) should never eat star fruit it hurts your kidneys!
2- I am really allergic to star fruit
3- I'm an idiot for having an expired epi pen

A few hours and many meds later I was home way worse for wear. I'm on a histamine blocker and prednisone , and am prescribed bed rest and no sun or socialization (my immune system is compromised and my already osteo bones are even more fragile) so here I sit...

Pity party
I need balloons
Fortunately I'm exhausted so it isn't as bad as it could be, right? Right!

This is where I tell you it's not my hubs fault! But poor guy is blaming himself! Damn star fruit!

+++do you have allergies?+++

*heres a flower photo I love! Yes I know it's not relevant (unless yours allergic)

Things I learned from my garden

This morning I was up early and in my garden as the sun was rising. My little spot needed some tlc the weeds were invading.

My mind was more zen than it has been since I got home from Jamaica!!

Pull, toss, reach, pull, toss...

First, I cleared out the grass.

Then I looked over and decided that my plants needed room to grow (LESSON) so I took a few minutes and decided which I was going to pull, because if it couldn't offer benefit to the garden or my family then I didn't need to keep them around (LESSON) and could let them reach their potential in other ways aka feeding my bunny (LESSON)

The irony of being a person who keeps toxic people in her life didn't escape me. So as I pulled broccoli that wasn't growing and pepper plants that had no peppers or flowers and gave them to brother (bunny) I gave myself permission to look over my garden of flowers and set people aside who also have better places...

Thanks garden! For a bunch of tomatoes, 12 cups of parsley (made Parmesan parsley rice for my in laws and for helping ME GROW!

+++do you garden? What's your garden taught you?+++

Fabulous Friday fill ins

As always courtesy of
http://fridayfillins.blogspot.com/2012/07/and_19.html
1. Staying active IS THE SECRET TO THE POODLE'S (AND MY OWN) HAPPINESS.
2. HAVING MY NEPHEWS NEAR BY AND HIKING IN THE WOODS WITH THEM well, that would be nice!
3. The very thought OF GOING TO DR APPOINTMENTS SENDS ME IN A SPIRAL WHICH I MUST SAY IS COUNTER INTUITIVE.
4. HAROLD PARKER is so beautiful.
5. I grew up in THE BARN and THE SHOW RING
6. EITHER BREAD PUDDING (on the good side) OR CHICKEN CACCIATORE (for the evil side - no seriously my mom made this so often that ALL my sisters and I are traumatized by it) was my most memorable meal.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to BABYSITTING MY FRIENDS DAUGHTER, tomorrow my plans include MEETING LULUBELLE (a dog of a friend of a friend who im taking care of for a week later) and Sunday, I want to JUST CHILL BUT I TOLD ANOTHER FRIEND ID HELP THEM WITH ERRANDS, IS IT MONDAY YET?

+++what are your weekend plans?+++

Lightning, neighbors and a poodle

Yesterday lightning just circled around my town.

It came rained, thundered, lightninged scared the living shit out of me (my fear level is off the charts lately - I'm not sure why but I'm working on it) and broke the power, about 15 minutes later it was gone and soon after the power turned on. During this time mike the mailman (the worlds best mailman) stops by and tells me I look rough I told him I was afraid of lightning he says "that's the worst storm I've ever seen it was right over the lake - I even pulled over, don't want to be driving in it" and I smile and think well at least it's over.

Not so fast Joy Joy! About an hour later it was back. Even nastier than before. It touched the lake and a tree on my street. I shook like a leaf - the poodle shook like a leaf. I couldn't figure out which way to look because it was all around us. Again we lost power - this time it took a couple hours to come on.

After this I sent the pic below to hubs saying "hey daddy I survived and so did momma"
About 45 minutes after the power came on that beast of a storm came back (now its like 6:30) and she slammed us one more time this time hitting a transponder and leaving us in the dark until after 9. The house was hot and muggy!

Now what does all this have to do with my neighbor? She heard me mentioning to mike I was scared. And when it came back she came over and sat with me, we talked about zucchini and childhood games and everything else! When the storm was gone she got up to leave and told me any time it stormed to just pop over to her house no need to be scared and alone.

What am I taking from yesterday's storm - not that lightning sucks (it does though)? I'm taking that great neighbors are worth their weight in zucchini!

+++are you a storm lover or hater?+++

Babysitting means zucchini, right?

I've been watching my 2 nephews last week and this. The boys are notoriously bad eaters. Each day I've made them something with zucchini.

The first day was:
Zucchini brownies (minus the frosting) from prevention rd
http://www.preventionrd.com/2012/07/whole-wheat-frosted-zucchini-brownies/
They ate half the batch (hubs took half to work otherwise I'm sure they would have eaten them all

The next day was zucchini muffins
http://m.myrecipes.com/details/searchR.rbml?id=10000001898573.xml&bcat=search&cat=Search%20Result&fl=recipe/kathies-zucchini-muffins-10000001898573/
They housed them!

Day 3
Was zucchini bread (I made these in pbj sandwiches)
http://www.food.com/recipe/zucchini-bread-bread-machine-434712 (minus walnuts and raisins - I didn't have them)

And today I have no eggs but a boy who walks in with "I'm hungry"
So I googled vegan zucchini oatmeal cookies and couldn't find any... So I googled vegan oatmeal cookies and found

Alicia Silverstein's kind diet oatmeal cookies (should have just looked in my cookbook duh)

I didn't have all the ingredients listed so I changed them and made them into bars (because taking cookies in and out of the oven sounds about as much fun to me as getting a root canal)... The 3 year old ate 3 for breakfast. The 6 year old is still sleeping. But hubs agrees with Aaron these are great! And I will say they smell amazing!

Without further adieu here they are:

Vegan oatmeal zucchini bars
which I changed from:

Vegan Oatmeal Cookies recipe: adapted from Alicia Silverstone - The Kind Diet

Ingredients:
- 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ⅓ cup honey
- 2 tbsp pancake syrup
- 1/3 cup oil
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 cup shredded zucchini

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- mix everything (now you're probably supposed to do this in some sort of order BUT I was cooking with a 3 year old and I suck at cooking!)
-squish everything into a 9 x13 pan that you greased
-cook for 20 minutes

Mission use up zucchini is in full effect!

+++do you like cooking with kids? I do+++

Apparently everything grows

I live in the town I grew up in. Often that's boring and rather... Claustrophobic.
But
But
But
Occasionally it's cool to see "my town" grow up.
Case in point - I am babysitting my nephews for a few days, I am not a great kid person (aka I have no clue what to do with them). I like right near the lake (hence the over abundance of lake pictures on instagram) so I decided to take them to the beach. Now, going to the lake for me isn't uncommon but going to the overcrowded, pay if you don't live within I certain radius (I live within it), lifeguarded, ultra-ruled (wtf no floaties) part is new - in general I prefer to go to the quieter area and be on my own (often with the poodle) so imagine my shock when the beach I grew up going to (and walk/drive by a million times a day) was all different!

Groomed beach
Volleyball net
Gorgeous little park
Place to rent boats
And a really nice bath house.

This same lake when I grew up:
Lake
Rocky beach
NASTY bathroom

Yup everything grows older and sometimes they grow nicer!
Good job little town, good job!

+++do you still live in your childhood town? If not do you go back? Has it grown up at all?+++

PS - my poodle rocks! He lets himself be walked by a 3 year old <3

A to Z

So janetha did an a to z post
http://mealsandmovesblog.com/2012/06/27/simple-things-abcs/
She got the idea from Abby
http://abznoats.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/simple-things-in-life/
Who got it from dorry
http://livingwithhealthyhunger.com/2012/06/22/simple-good-life/
Of things she enjoyed in life - I thought I could jump on the band wagon!

A- aunty I love being an aunt to little ones and big!
B- beaches - specifically the ones of Jamaica
C- Christmas cactus --- I have one that was my mom's and I love that it isn't dead :-)
D- decluttering my house and calming my soul
E- evenings with the hubs
F- friends - I swear friends are the best!!!
G- garden I am so proud of my garden, it's fun to pick stuff I've grown
H- house I love my little place of serenity on earth
I- iPhone for sure!!!
J- jumping rope (ESP with little kids because they sing songs while you jump)
K- kisses
L- libraries I love the smell of the books and the way that you've moved back a # of years every time you step in
M- Massachusetts - there really is no place like home
N- neighbors I have great neighbors and live in a cute neighborhood
O- orange juice
P- poodles poodles poodles! Mine in particular
Q- quilts I made a quilt that I love and I had a yoga/meditation mat made out of my moms clothes in a quilt style and I love it!
R- rabbits - I love our bunny brother
S- slushies, I adore them
T- tea, seriously the best thing ever
U- umbrellas I love walking in warm rain without getting wet
V- vets I love my dogs vet! She is fabulous and is always there for me
W- walking... On the street, in the woods, on a treadmill if need be
X- eXact change!
Y- yoga! 3 times a week to fix my body and my mind!
Z- zoos I love going to the zoo

+++tell me a few simple things that you like?+++

Friday fill ins

1. I am happy TO SAY THAT MY ZUCCHINI IS GROWING
2. WATERMELON are my favorite summertime fruits and vegetables.
3. To help me CAN YOU GIVE ME RECIPES FOR ZUCCHINI? SEE #1 I ALREADY PICKED 3 IN TWO DAYS.
4. KAYAK AND LEARN STAND UP PADDLE BOARDING is the one thing I want to do this summer more than anything!
5. Just the other day I was saying YEAH MON (I was in Jamaica - get it?)
6. I HAVE HUGGED THE POODLE over and over again SINCE WE GOT HOME!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to MOWING THE LAWN, tomorrow my plans include YOGA IN THE MORNING AND HELPING A FRIEND CLEAN HER HOUSE and Sunday, I want to WALK WITH HUBS AND THE POODLE AND PROBABLY KAYAK.

+++So seriously any ideas what I can do with my 3 huge zucchini - I have more and more up and coming+++