Sadness

I am overcome this evening with sadness. My heart is heavy and the lump in my throat is so large that it threatens to choke me.
You see a year ago we adopted a Golden Retriever from a rescue group that serves our area. It has been one of the best decisions I have made. With the support of my husband and daughter we where matched with a beautiful male Golden that was about 2 years old. He has become my constant companion and helps keep me active on the days that I just want to curl up on the couch and bury my head. I would not trade him for all the money in the world!

This evening I was surfing the rescue site that we got him from. I do that from time to time...checking in to see if the one's last week finally got their forever home. It is a wonderful feeling to see their picture move to the category of "Forever Home".
But this night....this night I saw a pictures and the story about a Golden who came to the rescue group that stopped my heart right then and there.
She was seized by the police department  in an animal cruelty case. On her intake exam at the shelter, she weighed a mere 28 pounds – probably less than half of what she should. This beautiful girl is 8 years old!!! Someone has neglected and abused her all her life. !!
In the last 10 days this wonderful and loving Golden has put on 10 pounds.

The following pictures are of her at 38 pounds since she was taken in by our awesome rescue group. But these pictures are still heart wrenching non the less. In fact I sat here and cried for her.







Can you imagine her 10 pounds LIGHTER when she first came in?
How can anyone think that it is OK to treat an animal who wants nothing more
than to please you like this???

My blessings and warm healing thoughts going your way beautiful girl.
You are in safe hands now. And I do believe that Karma will have the last
word with those who treated her this way.

Anti Social..

When did I come anti social? It must have slowly creeped up on me and taken over in a ninja kind of way.
Let me explain
.
 My daughter had a very good friend of hers that drove all with way from Iowa to Texas to see her and spend the week sight seeing and hanging out. They have been using our house as a kind of home base as you will. (a place to crash after a long day, and clean up to head out for the next day.) Both of these boys (they are both 20yrs old) are very considerate and helpful, I have no complaint about them as guests in my home. I couldn't have asked for better company to share my home with.

So why is it that I was ready for  them to leave a couple of days after they got here??
It's my personal space I have decided. I am very comfortable being by myself. Well not completely by myself, I surround myself with a few, very close people....and the rest, well they can go about their business as all as they leave me alone.
WoW. I never thought that I would ever get to that point.

But I am so happy with the way things are...that I don't mind sharing for a day or two...but after that, I am ready to get back to my personal space.

Maybe I am getting old. Maybe my inner Monk is working overtime to try and take control.

I do know that I am looking forward to getting back to my quite evenings,,,just to myself. (right now I an blogging this from the our bathroom floor in our room since it is the quietest part of the house right now!!
Yeah...it is as funny looking as it sounds. LOLOL)

Here's to getting back to some peace and quite tomarrow!   =]

Clever Ideas Worth Knowing

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.
If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef.
It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of
Spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!!  Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... Ta DA! ... Static is gone.

Gift

I received in the mail this week a "gift" of sorts from my mother. She mailed it just in time for me to get it right before Mother's Day.
The note she included with it explained that she had been going through old boxes and had ran across this letter that she have written to me when i was 13 years old. She said that she wanted me to have it now.

I reopened that letter she had written to me all those years ago and I have to be honest. I don't ever remember getting that letter. I don't ever remember my mother saying all those loving things to me whether written or said aloud. In this letter she says how proud she is of me, How she knows that she can be stubborn when it comes to me. That when the teenage years come that we will face them together and get through them. How she knows that she doesn't tell me how much she loves me and is proud of me.

I can tell you that we did not and do not have the mother daughter relationship that she had hoped for. If not for my husband these past few years we would have no  relationship at all.

There is alot of water....OK more like raging rapids, under that bridge for both of us. So even though we have a very tentative relationship at best, it is still something.
To have my mother pass this letter on to me, or should I say, back to me....... I really didn't know what to think. Or even how to feel about it.

So for now, I am choosing to take this as a small olive branch of peace from her. As for how I feel about it............still not sure. I read that letter through eyes that has seen alot on my life's journey. Because of my husband I have been able to fill in alot of those "pot holes" on that road which helped me to look/read it with a softer set of eyes and heart.
 But since I know my mom,(and her history) I am going to hold back on the feeling part for abit.
Unless it is proven otherwise I will accept the olive branch and see where she goes from here.

Banx

I was over at My Kids Might Be Martins this evening and she was sharing an update about their recent adoptive dog Brody. He sounds so much like our Banx that I just had to share a picture.

Our Banx loves to go for rides in the truck. He too LOVES the front seat. Now you have to picture that our dog is is about 75 pounds. Our truck is a Ford Ranger extended cab. Which pretty much means that it has two bucket seats in the front and enough space in behind the seats to fit two small kids. Yeah..not alot of space in the back but it gets us where we need to go.

There have been times when I have taken my daughter to work and Banx needs to ride in the back seat. He is not at all happy with this arrangement to say the least. He will huff and pout to make his point about how unfair it is that he has to ride in the back all the way to her work. (which by the way is about 10 mins from the house!!LOL)

The picture below was taken when he was expressing his dislike for the whole seating arrangement!!
I was laughing so hard that my daughter had to take the pic!!

Now that is a look that says.....You have got to be kidding!!!!!  LOLOLOLOL

Easter

Somehow the Easter Bunny forgot to let me know that Easter is this Sunday!!
Not that we celebrate Easter for the "mainstream" religious views of that day.
When I look back on all those years of cooking a big meal for everyone, hiding eggs for the kids, it was just me following a tradition that was passed down to me from my mother. Oh we went to church on an occasional Easter Sunday, but never in any regular fashion.
It was pretty much, all about the big fancy meal and the company that came over to eat it with you. (not to mention all the leftovers you had for a week after!!)

My kids are all grown up now. No more Easter egg hunts and baskets to get and fill.
So what does Easter mean to me? It's a reminder of Spring. That depending on where you live, that Spring is starting to show it's self or that it is well on it's way.
Easter is about new life. The birth of babies of all kinds. The renewal of life. The cycle continuing.

So, Easter for us will be different than that of my mother's handed down tradition.
We well be hitting the beach on Sunday morning for a walk and a picnic lunch. Then back home to fire up the BBQ and have a relaxing cook out.
I will also be sending out my many thanks to the Goddess for all of her blessings upon us too.

If you are celebrating Easter in a more tradition fashion, then may for day be filled with good food and friends,
If you are celebrating this day with little ones, enjoy the egg hunts and even that plastic grass in the bottom of the Easter baskets. This kids grow up so fast!!
If you are more like me than blessings to you and yours today. May your travels be safe and your b
r;omd pu sjf upid'
brights bl;
rdomhd nr many! 

Blooms

Some pictures of wild flowers that where in full bloom here on the coast a few weeks ago.
(taken by my husband because he is far better at capturing the moment than I )

My mini garden of tomato plants and herbs is also planted and well on it's way. I have roses already blooming  in the flower beds and have begun drying and storing them.
I am really looking forward to being able to use the fresh herbs this summer in my cooking as well as my craft.

Banx, our newest 4 legged family member has settled in quite nicely. This picture was taken by my husband when he got up in the morning to get ready for work. He came out into the living room to find Banx sound asleep on the couch!! Yes. I would say he has made himself right at home! =]