Improved girl of 60

Here it is.

The countdown is about over and the last day of the year has rolled itself out. The morning has broken through many clouds to herald out the old and bring in the new. I guess I'm the old but the new number attached to me is new. Let's see how well I can fit into this new number.

Goals and resolutions are the topic of the day and I guess I would be lying if I said they haven't floated through my thoughts. I've been pretty sketchy the past couple of years about setting anything too firmly into my agenda. I've been the one that has been wishy-washy about speaking up, even if it was to myself, about what I wanted to work towards. I can still be pretty indecisive about a lot of things. Which way to go or think or what to do? It can seem more daunting than it is.

I guess if there was a resolution to be made on this last day of the old year and the new age coming to me is to stop and do.

Here are my points for the new improved girl of sixty.

• Try with real intent
• Make a true effort
• Stay in the now, because the past comes too soon
• Don't worry about the future, it will happen anyway

So, I don't know that I've gotten any wiser but I can still try. The getting older part gives me the opportunity.

And I wish for everyone to have a Happy New Year as we fold up the old.

TT

You are here

Another year winding down, spiraling toward the end. In only a couple of days we will have gotten through another calendar year of ups, downs, and all that goes in between. It's supposed to be the time you pull out your memory books and take a walk backwards.

I don't want to do that. I know and remember enough of what happened all year to not feel the need to take the time now to rehash it all. I'm at the spot I am at. Whatever happened to get me here is all done. I don't need to wax poetic about all the things that has already gone on throughout the entire calendar of days and weeks.

I am here. It's like the big, red, dot on a map. Get your bearings, recognize your location, and get moving. We can't predict what is up ahead any more or less than we could last week or yesterday and yet we made it here, to the very spot we are now. So take a brief look around and go.
TT

A helping of feelings

I've taken this entire week off from work. I'm not sure what I expected to do with all the time I have but after one day I wasn't expected to be so tired. I'm also working on a really bad attitude since the weather caught up with the day on the calendar. Winter has raised it's ugly head as it does this time of year, every year, as expected. I'm not sure why I am always surprised when this happens. I'm not sure why I always get indignant and act like it's such the unexpected intrusion on my life. If this was a romantic comedy I guess my line would be, "but I can't help how I feel!" 

Well, get over your dramatic self. Where is your gratitude? How many different things can you count that are just about over-the-top awesome in your life? I can't count for you but I know, and not to brag, but I have many more that I should be placing up at the top of my use of energies list. Why wouldn't I do that? 

Let's stop putting all the great energies into the things that make us feel the worst. Stop making the bad things that spring to mind the priority. There must be a trick to push those negatives aside to focus on the totally wonderfulness we have at this moment. The whiny girl in the romantic comedy needs to grow up. Yes, you can help how you feel. Now that you've acknowledged it, put those wasted energies somewhere better. Make use of them somewhere that isn't dwelling on the downside of what might be going on. Once you move on you won't be thinking about it so much.

Then, I bet, you'll feel at lot warmer and a little bit less tired.

TT

Make lemonade

This morning the weather has turned. It's a little bleak, a little cold, and a little wet. There isn't anything to the extreme about it except it is a sharp contrast to the day it was yesterday. Don't let it hold you back. Don't waste the time comparing what was, to what is now. Stay in the right here and figure out the best possible way to go forward. Don't put it off.

It's the only time you'll have this moment.
TT

That then this

The day after Christmas and all through the house. It was quiet again the way it was before but not in between. Family, food, and festivities were in no short order in that time when the house was full and so were our stomachs.

Christmas meals have come and gone and this one was one for the history books. Our history books, maybe, but the books just the same. Artichoke dip with homemade chips was beyond the beyond and you can't eat just one. Nothing could have surpassed the crab cakes. Nothing at all in any time or space. It was like being in crab cake heaven it was so very good. Can you imagine a place of heavenly crab cakes? This was it. The main dish left no one unsatisfied. The spinach/arugula salad with goat cheese, bacon, and walnuts. Add the lemon vinaigrette and call it a day except, wait, there is more. Roasted new potatoes, prime rib, and gravy was perfection. And how about the crab stuffed shrimp? Why do you even ask when it was so good. All together on one plate was the best meal we could have had on such a day. We didn't end it there but took it to the next level with the chocolate swirl cheesecake with fresh raspberry red wine reduction sauce. What a way to end a meal, a day, a celebration.
       

So what do you do the day after the best day? You take that quiet day and spend a portion in another quiet area. You go to enjoy the outside, the breeze, and stretch the legs on a hike.
What could be better than that and then this?
TT

Tamales for Eve

It's Christmas morning but all quiet in the house. For now. It will be filled soon and I couldn't ask for more.

Christmas Eve went off beautifully. Tamales were on the menu because, well, you do those things. It wasn't a huge amount and it didn't take long. Most of the prep was done beforehand so it was a matter of spreading, stuffing, and steaming. It wasn't a lot of work but it was tradition.
Now onward to the main feast. The menu day should include:

Spinach/Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Walnuts

Lemon Vinaigrette

Artichoke Dip with Chips

Crab Cakes

Mini-Tarts with Brie and Bacon

Prime Rib Roast

Crab Stuffed Shrimp

Roasted New Potatoes and Carrots

Chocolate Swirled Cheesecake with

Fresh Raspberry Reduced Wine Sauce

I'm taking a short break now but will be getting to work in a moment. 

TT

'Tis the season

Christmas Eve - December 24th, 2015.

Here it is. This is when it all starts to come together. I work a half day today and when I leave here I will make one last stop to the grocery store. I have a list of all the things that need to be picked up to complete and round out our menu from Christmas dinner. That will be it.

This afternoon, depending on the time I have prior to attending the children's mass at 5:00pm, I might bake the cheesecake. If I don't do that today, it will be baked first thing tomorrow morning. Tonight after mass I will tackle homemade tamales. The pork roast is cooked and the chile sauce is ready. It will be a simple task of putting the masa and filling together and steaming them to perfection. I'm only making 5 lbs of masa so it won't be a long, drawn out process. We don't need mountains of tamales, just enough - like 5 lbs worth.

It's Christmas Eve. Let's track Santa. Let's get together and fill each other with the joy and happiness of the season. It's here.
TT