Gratitude 2013

GRATITUDE 

2013

    Seeing so many people wisely pick a "word" of the year to focus on inspired me to choose my own. I have chosen gratitude.  I get so busy in my days that I don't appreciate all that I have and focus on the small things instead of the big picture.  Each day I will try to "blog" what I am thankful for.  

    I am thankful for my Faith...Sunday's are a time to recharge my faith tank and to refocus for the week.  I am grateful for finding my way to the Church and my husband for keeping me on that path.  Not growing up in a church, sometimes I just want to lay around and do nothing on Sunday and Prince Charming will get up and get ready for church as if to say lets get going.  

    I am grateful for my children and today as #1 son goes back to college I really am appreciative of the time we had at home together.   

    I found this article and it is says quite a bit about Gratitude.  Till tomorrow~

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201111/the-seven-best-gratitude-quotes

I thought yoga looked easy

For years I wanted to try yoga. It looked relatively easy and I'm not in awful shape. I try to walk 3-4 miles no less than 3 days a week. A friend of mine asked me to join her at yoga and I acquiesced. It seemed harmless and stretching as exercise is my kind of exertion. Anyone with any experience with yoga is now laughing and quite possibly has tears running down their face. I get to my yoga experience with the token yoga garb-Yoga pants, fitted longer shirt, and feet scrubbed and ready for exposure. I even went out and bought myself a cute yoga mat to finish off the gear list. I throw down my mat, check out the people around me to see who I was up against, and sit there and wait. The instructor shows up and starts handing out blocks and straps and puts on zen music to get us in the mood for the upcoming "stretching" we will be doing. As class starts we begin with stretching and I actually believe that this will be a piece of cake. Down-ward dog not bad....then she has us planking, lowering into cobra something, and all kinds of new terms I'm not familiar with. As my arms shake, my abs scream, and my ankles wonder where I am, I soon realize that Yoga is NOT easy. Far from it! The lady next to me and her retired husband are going through the positions as I retire to child's pose to catch my breath and re-evaluate the situation. I know I am in over my head and don't want to be a quivering pile of jello at the end of class. I was attempting to do every pose like I'd been doing yoga for years...I needed to slow down and not compete with my fellow yogis. The day after my first class my shoulders hurt, my abs, my very tiny biceps, and muscles in my back that I'm pretty sure I never knew existed. I now have a dozen classes under my belt and feel stronger each time I go. I'm glad I began this journey and never would have thought yoga was the work out that it is.

What I have learned about my front load washing machine..

I was one of those people that drooled over the front load washers and dryers...in my mind I thought they must be much better than top loaders...they were prettier, sleeker, everything about them was superior. Wow and use less water I could be eco friendly too! 15 pairs of jeans in a load..amazing! If only I had a set I would elevate my position in life!!
When we came back from Okinawa they were my dream item! So, my Prince Charming took his hard earned money and bought me a set-I was in awe of the items...the price was crazy and to add the pedestals with the fancy drawers was another $200 per item! But I wasn't focused on the price...I NEEDED the drawers! I was out of my mind with glee(ahh yeah..that's it)!
He brought them home and I loved them, told everyone about how wonderful they were, stuffed odd socks in the drawer, and junk in the other. I was in washing machine heaven! It was a happy marriage - Now, if you do as much laundry as I do a week it is a big deal to have a great set. Especially a set with a huge capacity. The front loader we purchased(I use *we* lightly...I lamented over internet pictures, Tracy went and bought) It washed 15 pairs of adult jeans in one load, towels galore, it almost washed clothes all by itself.
Slowly, the reality set in...Factoid #1: those fancy, expensive drawers...well..not so useful when your laundry room is the size of a closet...you never see what's inside them as the clothes basket in front of the machine keeps me from ever opening them! What they are truly useful for is giving your washer and dryer the height they need so you don't have to bend over and kill your back every time you do laundry..a little something you don't realize until you get them home if you don't buy the drawers..notice in all stores those babies are all on drawers! Also, speaking of height...with the drawers they are VERY tall..some people can't fit them due to this fact. catch 22
Factoid #2: Something at first you don't know about is the smell...Because they are airtight if you don't switch your laundry after you wash and you leave it over night there is an odor that you can't quite place...and getting it out of your clothes takes about 1 cup of vinegar and a rewash! Note to self...leave door open if you plan on leaving clothes longer than a couple hours. **a side note-they now sell all kinds of "stuff" to get the odor of your washing machine...a true tell tale sign that this is a huge problem!
Factoid #3: NEVER-EVER-EVER wash more than a couple of pairs of jeans at a time and always include other items..The jean-leg-untangle dance is not fun! And the wrinkles from that mess are NOT coming out in the dryer. Lets just say that it's not a good idea
Factoid #4: If you put a pair of folded socks in the washer when you switch them to the dryer they are still folded...Which leads me to this question...are our clothes even getting clean??? I wash and iron church linens every once and a while...and if I don't unfold them all some will come out still folded...How the heck can that be? Is ANYTHING getting clean in that stinky front loader?
Factoid #5: The dryer rocks...but then all dryers are front loaders! I will say with my dryer on a pedestal I don't have to bend over to pull out my clothes so this is a HUGE benefit on that end!
Recently I was at the store drooling over the top loaders...I wonder what the life expectancy of the front loader is....

Pioneer Woman Book Signing

Met my blog hero yesterday...Ree Drummond- The Pioneer Woman! We waited 4 hours for her to sign 7 cookbooks at Borders in Fairfax, VA. My friend Giap and I had fun waiting in line chatting with other groupies, entertaining in and of itself. We arrived at about 5:50 pm and left at 10:00 pm. An experience I will never forget and I recommend doing at least once.

Thanks Ree for being such a good sport...well, you did make a killing last night! Borders sold out of your cookbook;)

Prince Charming is a stock character who appears in a number of fairy tales. He is the prince who comes to rescue of the damsel in distress, and stereotypically, must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. The name has been given to the heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, including Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella.

These characters are often handsome and romantic, a foil to the heroine, and are seldom deeply characterized, or even distinguishable from other such men who marry the heroine. Prince Charming is also the name given to a handsome man of great attractiveness.

In many variants, they can be viewed more as rewards for the heroine rather than characters.^[1]

"Prince Charming" is also used as a term to refer to the idealized man some women dream of as a future significant spouse^[2]. from: wikepedia

We had our Priests of for dinner on Sunday...Brisket and mashed potatoes both recipes from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook-Asparagus with hollandaise a kid favorite! I had a lot of left over mashed potatoes so I took the left over broth and potatoes and made a beef shepherd's pie for dinner on Monday..it was wonderful! 2 inches of mashed potatoes on top...sadly, no leftovers today...it was all gone by the time dinner was over-

a day in the life

Found my future kitchen counters! Love the butcher block counters with the great farm sink...not to keen on the faucet though...I'll search for the perfect one-Thought I'd go ahead and post it here since I've done little else on my blog! LOL