It is finally feeling more like Spring around here. The trees are greening up and I have high hopes for my beautiful blooming pink ornamental cherry tree this year. Last year was disappointing, I think there was one lonely bloom. I heard that the lack of blooms was weather related and since it wasn’t just my tree that was affected, I will trust that and hope that this year’s weather was favorable for blooming! I need them.
Over the past few weeks I have seen Kale Chips, everywhere. On Facebook, on my mail list, on several of the food blogs that I frequent…even on Avitable. I had to try them. So I bought a bunch of kale and made a batch. I was actually looking forward to them. They were crispy, they weren’t bad, but they weren’t awesome. The worst part? I couldn’t get rid of the kale taste in my system….sorta like fish oil pills. I don’t know about you, but when I eat something, I want the taste to leave me quickly. I don’t want to be tasting it hours later.
Maybe I’m just picky.
Here is a quote posted the other day on Wayne Dyer’s Facebook fan page, that has been on mind ever since:
“Set aside some time today to focus on the biggest challenge in your life. Break down whatever it is to one thing that can be done today, right in this moment. Erase the big picture–simply do what you can now and let everything else fade…Be in the now. See how doing the Tao at this moment brings big results by paradoxically staying small and simple.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer
When Starr was younger we used to have “Mommy and Starr Day” once or twice a year. It wasn’t associated with any other holiday or birthday and I’m pretty sure that one of Starr’s rules was that it had to be during the school year because I would take her out of class for the day and we would spend it together.
We would pick something to do, it was usually cheap, bowling, going to the zoo, out to lunch, rent a movie and we would almost always do facials and paint our nails. I wasn’t the activity that mattered. It was just us girls hanging out. No school, no work, no friends knocking on the door. Never on a weekend, because weekends were just meh, Mommy and Starr Day had to be special.
Starr remembers these days very fondly. She brought them up the other day telling me how much she loved them. I think we stopped having official Mommy and Starr Days when she was in middle school, but we will still set aside time that is just ours from time to time.
It’s funny because it was always just the two of us anyway, but I think that taking a special break from the day-to-day and focusing on each other once in a while really strengthened our relationship.
The note has nothing to do with this post. I just found it while looking for a picture to post and it made me smile!!
One of my plugins failed last Sunday night and blew up the blog!
Thanks to the technical support team at my hosting site Pro Website Group for their attention and their help recovering almost all of my data! They rock!
The sun is shining, my blog is back, I went to the salon for a cut and color this morning…it is a good day!!
I took this picture a couple weeks ago, that little pink scooter left me smiling!
I am 100% behind Jamie Oliver and his efforts to change the way children (and adults) eat/think about food as well as the way the government feeds the children within the school system . Things do need to change. Here is his recent TED talk. It’s about 20 minutes long, so check it out when you have some time:
I believe in whole real foods, I believe in cooking. I try to avoid foods that are full of chemicals, hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. I do not have a perfect diet, but it is something that I am always working on. At the same time, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t love mayo on my french fries!! I just don’t indulge often!
I have been missing!! Missing out on posting, reading and keeping in touch!!
I have also been okay. Ups and downs, you know, life as normal. It just seems like every time I turn around, there has just been something needing attention. Today it’s Starr’s car. The weekend it was Starr herself and our little Easter dinner.
Here is a picture that caught my eye a few days ago, Starr and Sunny, being their usual uptight, boring, stoic selves:
I miss your bright, energetic, funny, awesome presence Sunny…so much!
My office is a hot mess. I know that there are other areas of the house that need attention, but tonight it was the “family tree” shelf which was piled with books, folders, printouts, notes (letters and notes that my mom took and saved 20 years ago, my notes and documents from my spurts of searching over the years) that caught my attention. I know that I organized it once upon a time, but over the last few years, I’ve pulled information that I failed to refile while at the same time printing new documents that needed to be filed appropriately.
I unloaded the shelf onto the floor of the living room and sat there on the floor with a glass of wine prepared to dig in and fix my mess. My computer and family tree information are on my computer…in the office! It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed to relocate and reassess my plan of attack. At the moment I am tempted to dump the whole pile back on the shelf and find another distraction…I know that I can find one easily.
In the meantime, I found a journal that my dad made during the last days of Granddaddy’s life. Granddaddy was relatively healthy until the end. He kept his mind, but the last few weeks were painful and slow. Grandmother had already lost her mind to Alzheimers. Granddaddy spent his last few weeks in a hospital bed placed in the living room of their home. She thought he was a newborn. Always needed to be touching, tucking or futzing with the “baby”. Granddaddy, when he had enough strength tells her to “sit down! I’m okay.” Dad took note of the general interactions with Granddaddy and he also chronicled a “conversation” with Grandmother…she was talking to herself, in another world. I hope it was a happy one. *sigh* Alzheimers sucks. As does cancer along with many, many other things…such as car accidents!
Granddaddy on his tractor, summer 1999, 91 years old. Off to help a fellow who was stuck in the pasture. I love that smile!
Grandmother, exact year unknown at the moment, with the Starr’s tree. Spring 1990 or 1991 as part of an Earth Day program the kids at Starr’s daycare received “trees”, we brought the sapling to the farm and planted it as a single twig and a few roots. To our surprise, it grew!!
The notebook was a sad read.
Granddaddy passed away August 2002, two days after my dad’s last journal entry. Grandmother passed less than a year later.
My knives were getting so dull it was becoming an issue. It’s been about 10 years since I purchased my knives…one at a time because they were expensive…and I only have three. I love them and am glad that I spent the money on them. I have honed them regularly, but have never had them professionally sharpened.
I considered going to Ace Hardware or something, but I didn’t want just anyone to sharpen them. I wanted someone who knew knives. I found the guy who sharpens knives for restaurants in Northern Colorado and met him in the ally behind a local Chinese place. At $3 a knife, I think it was a bargain.
They are sharper than they were when I first purchased them. In fact they scare me just a bit.
It’s funny, because I didn’t know how to transport them. At home I keep them on a magnetic strip, I use them, I wash them, I stick them to the wall. I don’t own a knife block or carrying case. I considered wrapping them in towels, but that seemed just as sketchy/dangerous as carrying them bare. I decided to make my own sheaths out of a cereal box. I traced the blades and cut a wide version of each knife then stapled around the edges. They looked really silly.
I set the knives on the table to take a picture of my handiwork and Sammy jumped up (as always) needing to be involved, so I took a picture of both!
The knife specialist didn’t give my homemade sheathes a second look. I am saving them to use next time.
Now that I know who-what-where I will be getting them done more often.
Name? Kelly. Mysterious? Not really. Passionate? Yes. Lazy? Sometimes. Outgoing? Not a bit. Trusting? Mmhmm. Artistic? On good days. Crazy? Could be. Trustworthy? Absolutely. Graceful? I wish. Sarcastic? Often. Deserving? You bet. Forgiving? Yes. Religious? No. Spiritual? Yes. Uncertain? At times. Confused? Sure. Distracted? Daily. Silly? Yeah. Talkative? Not. Punctual? To a fault. Breakable? Quite.
This is not a music blog. While it is my desire to share free and legal music here (music is a part of me), it is not my goal to critique this music.
If I have posted music, it is because I like it, and it moves me at the moment. It might match my mood, it could be on repeat, or mirror the sentiment of my post. It might be quite random, and just what I wish to share.
*Older links may not always work, as promotional MP3s, in particular, are known to disappear without warning.
Artists and labels: if I have erred and posted a song inappropriately, let me know, and I will remove it.
To download a song: on a PC, right click the link and choose "save link as"
Kelly on 
