Thank you; Doin' It Well !

So baby Girl's dual, repeated ear infections have cleared up.  Today during her follow up visit, her pediatrician told me to stay out of the sun, repeatedly.  Repeatedly, I retorted.  He said "You're to self-assured".  HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!  But, I thanked him for his concern. :)

Saturday late night a young gentleman asked me if I was an athlete.  Our age difference is too large for him to have been hitting on me.  I told him the truth; I was a dancer and a cheerleader but not a competitive athlete.  But, I thanked him for the compliment.

I have had the privilege of making life choices based on love forever. According to Maslow's hierarchy that's a privilege.  That means at least my belly is full and I am safe.   I loved myself first and acted only for myself for way too long.   For the past 10 years I have been drowning myself trying to make the focus of my love different men; not at the same time thank you.  This is like a cyber thank you to the loved ones in my life; past and present for all of the lessons I have learned.  Now the focus of my love is my daughter.

Children are a gift that will change your life.  The pediatrician said "They'll make you more serious."   Maybe so but I already take myself way too seriously. The one lesson I have to keep re-learning, because I am stubborn, is thankfully the simplest to enjoy; I am not in control here.  This is the lesson that keeps me humble.  No need to worry or be afraid of what's happened, what is happening or what is going to happen.  Sweet!  Peace.  And to think I was wanting to be out of control anyway for the while before I got preggo.  WHAT.A.RELIEF!  This realization IS the answer to my prayers.  I hope that I'm doing whatever I'm (not) supposed to be doing well enough  ;)

If you love something...

This saying has been on my mind lately;  If you love something then let it go.  If it was yours it will come back to you....unless you rip its wings off and break its heart.
I made up the last part.
Unless said thing is a boomerang, is it going to come back for sure?  I guess a youngin would...while they are still young and have needs to be met by only you.  Maybe not when they are teenagers and adults with money and wheels.   Actually, I hope my girl grows up and flies away, but comes back to visit and hang out, b/c I've taught her to be free and independent.  I would want her to come back on her own free will if she wanted.
What about when accidents happen? What about when loved ones go off to fight wars?  Maybe it's not about physically letting go...
Dogs will usually return to you if they are fetching a ball you are throwing.  Cats return usually when food is to be had.  Kids and men too I guess.  Men will also return for a different sort of nourishment...

Do living things only "come back" to us because we are meeting their needs?  What if someone else is meeting their needs?  What if they are meeting their own needs?  Or wants?  Or desires?  How can you purposefully let the one you love go, for the chance of someone else to love them and meet their needs, better than you can?  Should you?  Surely that's insane.  Wouldn't it be more insane not to know?
I could ramble forever on this but the real question is...is anything really ever ours to have and own?  Maybe for a moment yes.  For a lifetime?  For more than a lifetime?  Will we be reunited with them after this lifetime?  What about tortured souls that are neither here nor there?
How can we own love?  Is the only pure test to let it go?  This sounds so ridiculous.  I guess we can't own love, we can only share it.
I'm glad this is out of my hands.

Boob Sandwich

Ladies- when it's time to get your mammos, get them done.  Seriously, it is no.big.deal.  Well, sans the radiation, but it is easier than going to the dentist I think.  I had my overdue follow up today and I am all clear.  The short story (always best) is that after my ruptured ectopic in Dec 2006, I had 2 rounds of mammos, a breast ultrasound (yes really) and a NEEDLE BIOPSY.  Now, after pregnancy and breastfeeding and a pending future (hopefully) boob job *at LEAST by the age of 40*, I knew I was overdue for some imaging.  Let me tell you that the boob sandwich is not a big deal and it's super quick.  You have nothing to fear!  Get this done!  Get your moms and sisters and aunts to get this done!

Look Down Look Up

THIS is a great ad!
http://www.oldspice.com/videos/?gclid=CJ_NtLWJ-58CFRD7agod_BVEmg

Man Spanx; I just wanted to say it!

From Perez Hilton:
http://cocoperez.com/?from=PH&p=52016

HILARIOUS...but totally a good idea!

A few simple things

Snow is beauty and the closest thing to real magic there is.

I can only drive one car at a time.

I can only wear one pair of shoes, one pair of jeans and one pair of sunglasses at a time (usually).

Jewelry is another story.

All living things expire; plants, trees, animals and people.  

Time is the only non- renewable resource.  Invest it wisely.

I appreciate the value of $1 and $1000.  I’ve never had $10000.  It’s a good thing or I would have p*ssed it away too.

The more stuff I give away and sell online, the more I realize value is subjective.

I have worked alongside some of the best winemakers in the world.  I learned the most about marketing from them.

If it has a commercial, I don’t really need it.  That's right *bombshell*.

Music gives me the best high.

I am trying to be a good steward- do we really ever own anything?

Steel drums were fashioned out of spent oil drums.  I love that such beautiful sounds can come from trash.  

Pay retail only 1% of the time or less.  Almost everything goes on sale.

You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.

Stress and hate, anger and jealousy can kill you...slowly and painfully.

Forgiveness is the hardest lesson I have to learn.

Stretching is great.

Jeans always shrink.  Even the preshrunk ones.

People will try to love you the best way THEY know how.

I need to get outside more!

Life is a miracle.

When Life Hands You Lemons...

I'm ok with this saying but I am offering some better alternatives than "make lemonade".  That's right.  Deal.

So last year we seemed to have a bumper crop of our Key Limes and I salt preserved them (because I thought they were lemons) and they are still sitting happy in the back of the fridge...maybe it was 2 years ago.  They are delicious and you need only a very small amount to lend the acidity to a dish.  Anyway, desert peoples have been preserving citrus for eons.  Now, since I am one, so do I.

This year a co-worker brought in soooooooooooo many extra lemons from the lemon tree of the house she is renting.  I need to see this thing because I can only imagine it is old and huge and regal.  The lemons (aside from the root stock wild lemons) are large, firm, juicy and not too seedy.  They are the prettiest color of light yellow once you cut them open and man did I use them all up!  The picture above is the first round.  Over the course of a 3 day period, I used the above amount x6.  And other people were taking them from work also.  Like I said this tree must be huge!  I SHARED thank you!

Since I had AN.EXTRA.10LB.BAG.OF.SUGAR from my winter baking; see here:

http://diningandwhiningtucson.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-i-wont-be-doing-next-year.html

I decided to make something sweet out of these boys.  The above pix are the steps involved in making CANDIED LEMON PEEL.

This is a pic of my 1st batch of 3 total.  You cannot imagine how amazing these things are.  AMAZING.  Like a taste of happy sunshine goodness in your mouth here in the middle of winter!  I love it!  I dare you not to smile when you are eating one.  I had enough to take to a party and share with 3 people at work.  They go well in champagne too, or dipped in chocolate (no pix of those). I'll post pix of how I'm going to use the others.  I am thinking cranberry and candied lemon peel breakfast rolls.  I also made simple syrup as a reduction of the last step  of boiling...anyone need 5 pints of essential-oil-of-lemon-simple-sugar?  I'm happy to share.  No pix of the syrup either; not too photogenic.  The syrup is also AMAZE in chammers.  So I was stoked but I didn't stop there...can you guess what I did next?  That's right baby I juiced those things and got 72 cubes of fresh lemon goodness.  They are already in a freezer bag for when I need them.  I feel like I never have "fresh lemon juice on hand" when some recipe calls for it.  DILEMMA NO MORE!!!  Oh, and the LAST thing I'll be making with them is LEMONADE.

Lastly, I have to add that all of this came about at the same time we were celebrating a friend's new job.  Here's my new favorite saying: