March 12, 2012

I woke this morning to a howling wind swirling little chips of brown leaves around. The mountains across the valley have disappeared behind a heavy curtain of snow. I dreamed last night that I was working in my garden, harvesting juicy red tomatoes and tender sweet green beans. The sunshine yesterday was just March teasing me with hope...maybe this year I'll plant early.... This morning winter slapped me in the face with icy fingers, screaming in my face...ha ha, just kidding.

Wonder Woman and Winter

Christmas morning I was Wonder Woman in the kitchen.  How cool is that?  Thank you Allicia for allowing me to channel my inner reality.

And it is New Year's Day...HAPPY NEW YEARS

It snowed for 5 minutes on Christmas, sprinkled snow a couple days ago but melted quickly, and we had freezing rain last week.  But today, on the first day of this wonderful, beautiful New Year, we have snow.  It's not that I'm in love with snow.  I've given up skiing since the only move I ever perfected was a double release face plant (those of you who ski understand what that is and the rest of you can use your imagination...).  I'm happy about snow today and hope it snows another 3 feet and stays until March, then goes away.  We need the water.

 

This morning, life is fabulous.

 

My Superpowers

As I was contemplating our wonderful family Thanksgiving, I had a minor revelation regarding my superpowers.  This internal discovery happened as the result of the following conversation:

Grandkid: Grandma, why do you have a turkey in a bucket of water in the bathtub?
Me: I'm teaching it to swim.
GK: Really?  Oh, ok.

Grandma superpower: Knowing the answers to life's little questions.
. 

Magic Morning

In town, they are driving through fog.  From my house, it's a magic carpet of clouds and sunshine.  I love my life.

Winner

52,928 words later, I have just successfully completed National Novel Writing Month. 

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel beginning November 1 and finishing before midnight November 30. 

I have tried the challenge in prior years, but never got past 6,000 words.  This year, with my schedule being more flexible, and just me and the dog hanging out together (except for the wonderful, wonderful family Thanksgiving that we all enjoyed), and encouragement from some (as well as curiosity, astonishment, disbelief, and wonder from some others) I am DONE!!!

My novel is a rough, very rough draft.  I hope to print it out in the next few days and commence to try and create some cohesion.  I know I need to correct tense, person, ages, names, weak verbs, run on sentences, and chapter numbers.

But for tonight, I will bask in the light of NaNo success.

Quiet after the storm

It has been an amazing holiday that started five days ago with 15 other people sleeping in my little farm house, Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful with family, friends, and two young men far from home (first Thanksgiving for one-quite an initiation), and 50 biscuits, sausage gravy, and pancakes for breakfast yesterday till everyone was full again.  Leftovers, and then leftovers again.  It has been a week full of love, and hugs, and grandma rock-rocks, and freeze tag in the orchard.  The children were disappointed that we have no snow, but devised a plan to slide down the sledding hill in the mud using their coats instead of sleds.  Um.  No.

 I told the little snots if they didn't look happy and hold still so I could take a good picture, I wasn't going to let them go home.  They did not believe me.  13 pictures later...perhaps photo shop can help.

The house is quiet.  There is one piece of pumpkin pie left.  I will make turkey soup tomorrow.  Tonight, I think I'll have leftover spaghetti for dinner.  Alone.  All by myself. 

I miss you to the moon and back.

 

Bianca the weather-dog

Bianca, the wonder-puppy has become my weather-dog.  She gets up at dark thirty to run outside for a moment or two.  When she comes in looking like this...I know it is snowing again.  It's a perfect system, and no matter what the guy on the radio says about the weather forecast, Bianca is 100% right.

NaNoWriMo Update

Not that anyone is excited about this but me...drum roll please...I just passed 30,000 words!  I am 19 days into this writing event with 12 days to go, and I think I'm actually going to make 50,000 words this time.  For the first time ever.  And it's not that this draft is the next big thing, but I'm putting on paper thoughts that have been batting around among the cobwebs in my head for several years.  So it feels good, and it feels satisfying, and it makes me happy and excited. (I know, I need to work on my long run-on sentences.  My draft is full of them).

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, you can check out the web site at nanowrimo.org

I'm taking the afternoon off today, but I'll be back to writing tomorrow after church.  I need to get ahead on my word count so I'm not typing into the wee hours of the morning when my kids are here for Thanksgiving week end.  Oh my word, I need to get going on Thanksgiving preparations, too.  Life is BUSY.

NaNoWriMo

Just a few minutes ago, winter got here.  It's pouring down snow outside my window.  I have a stack of wood near by, the fireplace is blazing, and I'm toasty and safe from the cold.  I did just go out and bring in the summer equipment that I put by the back door (yes, I got snowed on).  The shovel, bikes, and other gardening implements are safe from winter.  I've been meaning to get them under cover, and it worked out just perfect.

And in other news, I signed up to do NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month.  November is NaNoWriMo.  The goal is to write a 50,000 word draft of a novel in the month of November.  I've been behind in my word count, but I'm finally catching up.  I have 22,674 words in 102 pages.  The last time I tried NaNoWriMo, I made to 6,000 words and got bogged down with life.  This time I'm almost half way there.  I stink.  I don't have any clean clothes.  I don't have any clean dishes.   I ate cup of soup for lunch out of the little styrofoam cup with chop sticks.  Things have been stacking up.  I went to work yesterday.  I'll go to work tomorrow.  But other than that, I'm getting major TB from sitting and typing all day.  And I had a break through today.  I cried.  When my work makes me cry it makes me so happy!  But it was only a little sad moment and was quickly over.  Now I'm back to sassy and silly or something like that. 

No, you can't see it until it's done.  Maybe not until it's published.  Maybe never.  But I am so happy to be working on this novel.  With winter pouring down outside, the fire blazing inside, and my fingers flying over the keyboard, things are moving at the speed of life around here.

Officially Old

This is what an officially old lady looks like.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's been a great day.  I got a bin of wood unloaded.  Another one to go tomorrow.  Rob cleaned out my chimney, so I have a toasty warm fire going in my fireplace.  I had a delicious dinner and birthday cake over at Rob & Shari's tonight and they gave 2 maglite flashlights, the perfect gift what with the power going in and out because of the wind.  And I spoke to all my kids today except one.  And yes, bacon is supposed to be CRISP, Katie.  Really.  It's true.  And I got butterflies in the mail.  A touch of spring before the snow flies.  Thank you, Deb. 

MY BLESSING CUP IS OVER FLOWING!!

She's getting older

A poem I wrote about living 60 years and the delicate art of growing older, inspired by the awesome Sapphire Pool at Yellowstone National Park.

The Beauty of Wisdom

crap, I forgot the words.

Nothing is Impossible

I saw a video this weekend that touched my heart.  I've been thinking about the importance of working together as a family, community, nation, and world.  Sometimes, little children have to show us the way.  They don't see an obstacle and say "that's impossible."  They don't understand "impossible."  They see an obstacle and start pushing.  No committee.  No "whose job is this" or "where are the government guys who are supposed to take care of this problem?"  Problem = obstacle in the way.  Solution = I need to start pushing.  Simple.  The child becomes a leader.  Problem solved.  Obstacle removed.  True faith in action.

bummer

My new landlord has decided to rip out the cherry orchard in my back yard so that he can plant a new variety of cherries next spring.  My house is surrounded by a pock marked field where trees used to be.  The smell of an orchard being consumed by fire fills the air. 

I heard once that the more things change the more they remain insane. 

This is crazy sad.

Pirate Queen

I love it when I dream I'm a Pirate Queen and wake up in the morning with a British accent.

Holy Zucchini, Garden Girl, Now What?

The question becomes, what do I do with a zucchini that is large enough to have its own zip code?  No need to tell me I should have picked it months ago when it was "just the right size," okay?  It was sort of hiding in giant leaves, alright so I saw it, but I kept thinking, "what am I going to do with a giant zucchini?" and it just kept getting bigger and bigger.  Not only that but there are two more not quite so giant ones to deal with, as well.  It's a happy little vegetable, maybe I will let it sit in the chair and chat at it.  Rather than the crazy cat lady (cats make me itch, I like zucchini better), I will become known as the crazy zucchini lady. 

How many cups of grated zucchini do you think I can get out of my 3 zucchini harvest?

I'm trying to figure out what to make from my bounty, and this is what my research has yielded:

Zucchini bread (love it, but perhaps not 232 pounds worth of the stuff).

Zucchini coins where you peel it, cut it in rounds, mine would be zucchini $20 pieces, and fry it--can anyone say 'grease face break out?'

Stuffed zucchini, okay, I could invite everyone I know and have them invite everyone they know and maybe we could gag down all my zucchini stuffed with sausage, carrots, onions, and garlic in a cheese sauce (that's how I like my stuffed zucchini).

 Zucchini casserole, such as zucchini, chicken, and rice; lemon zucchini pound cake (this one doesn't sound too bad, but why is it listed under casseroles...and it makes 16 servings, and it's just me right now...how many pounds would I gain if I ate 1/4 of a cake every day for 4 days, do ya think...but wait, it's a vegetable cake, that makes all the difference, I'm just sure of it),  herbed grilled vegetables--if I had a grill, I might try this one, too, the picture is beautiful...I think I lost the zucchini casserole thread and went somewhere else.

For right now, my happy zucchini is sitting in Mom's rocking chair (it actually sits taller in the chair than Mom does).  It's looking out the window and enjoying the view while I figure out what to do.  If you come for a visit, you're not allowed to comment on the zucchini in the chair unless you bring a recipe.  For zucchini.

tired of popcorn

Since Mom has been gone, she, the woman who cooks traditional meals consisting of real food, well cooked and beautifully served...I have been subsisting generally on popcorn or cold cereal for dinner because we all know how bad tv dinners are for you.  Around here canned chili is considered a gourmet meal.  It isn't like I can't cook.  I'm an amazing cook.  Not your regular follow-a-recipe kind of cook, more of a what's-in-the-fridge-and-freezer kind of dump cook with a lot of faith and hope.  Anyway, I've been pouting for a few weeks since Mom flew the coop to be a snow bird.  But I decided it's time to put on my big girl apron and start cooking.  Course I really, really don't want to cook every night, so I decided to cook up a bunch of stuff, stick it in the freezer, and have my very own sort of healthy frozen dinners.

Chicken pot pies, some apple pielets with the left over crust, an apple crisp.  Basic food groups, right?  Already in the freezer are six plates of swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes,with a side vegetable--ok, I dumped a half cup of frozen corn each the plate.  That counts.

I have some hamburger in the fridge waiting to become something burger-fabulous. 

That's what I've been up to today.  My house smells wonderful.  The chicken pie is amazing--I ate one.  I need to go chop some onions because whatever I make with the burger, it will definitely need onions.  And garlic.  So many possibilities.

I  can hardly wait for Mom to come home.

On the road

Ladies vacation was fun this summer.  We saw this big boy and his friends.  In fact, we almost had a run-in with one of his friends, but that is another story all together.  Mom, Lan, and I jumped in the motor home and hit the road for a week in September to Montana and Wyoming.  We thought vacation time would be over and Yellowstone National Park would be fairly quiet.  Wrong.  The fishing was incredible (and me without my fishing gear...boo hiss).  But it was wonderful, no snow, warm days, cold nights, still lots of people, wild animals, and beautiful vistas.

We saw Old Faithful several times.  Never gets old. 

There were elk, deer, and buffalo.  We didn't see the man-eating bear.  He killed 2 people this summer before we got there.  Even in town, the place we camped had a bear proof trash bin. I hear you don't have to run that fast to avoid a bear, just faster than the people you are with.  I can.

There are signs everywhere in East Yellowstone where we stayed that say "snow mobile parking" and a lady we talked to said almost everyone drives a snowmobile in the winter because how else are you going to get around, right?  I've been watching the weather reports and it's been snowing off and on for two weeks there.  That's just the start.  It will snow all winter.

They had an I Max theater, so we saw the Yellowstone story, which was very cool, but after watching Mom watch the beginning of the show, I'm not so sure it was a good idea.  She has been suffering from vertigo and is taking medication for dizziness, and the opening scene was a helicopter swooping down a snow covered mountain into a valley.  Kind of like riding a roller coaster.  We told her she couldn't throw up and embarrass us or we would pretend we didn't know her and she'd be on her own.  She didn't so we were fine.  It was so fun we went back and saw the Lewis and Clark show. 

Our almost encounter with a huge buffalo happened as we were returning back to camp.  It was almost dark, and on the side of the the road there is this enormous buffalo ambling along, a big black shadow until you're right beside him, and then he thinks he needs to walk in the lane we're driving in which is a step short of exciting because it is a narrow 2-lane road to begin with, but we don't hit him which is good because it would probably make him really mad and the little dent caused by hitting him would be nothing compared to the stomping he could give the side of our motor home.  Other than severe heart palpitations all around (except for the buffalo, who I'm sure is wishing all these tourists would just go home), it worked out fine.

On the trip home, we got some bad gas in Missolua (in the tank, not in us), which gave us an adventure.  Going over Look Out Pass in Montana the motor home chugged, burped, sputtered and then died.  Right there in the road.  Unfortunately, there was major road construction and traffic was one lane each way.  Also unfortunately, the semi truck behind us was coming on pretty fast.  Fortunately he stopped.  Unfortunately, there was a string of cars behind him who didn't know we were the cause of the problem, didn't care, and didn't want to be stopped on the pass in the middle of the day.  There is a LOT of traffic on that road.  Amazing lot.

But a couple of angels in work boots and blue jeans pulled us out of traffic with their white half ton pick up.  One of them took Lan to where there was cell phone reception so she could call AAA.  The other puttered with the motor home and, after the engine rested for a bit, we got it started again.  Right when Lan showed up.  So we got over the top of the pass, stopped in Wheeler and got some magic "get rid of the nasty gas taste of Missolua gas" additive, grabbed some huckleberry ice cream cones, and made it home just fine. 

It was a grand trip.

Moving time

For a while I got away from working out in the mornings.  You know, 6:00 comes too early and  I got lazy and whatever.  But I've been getting up and jumping around again.  I don't enjoy it any more than I did before.  At least I'm not swearing at Torture Guy as he works out in Hawaii with 3 former fat girls ... and says ... as he is touching these three former fat girls "pull in your stomach."  What the heck does that mean?  "Pull in your stomach."  Where am I supposed to put it?  If I had a stomach that was flat and tight, it might pull in.  But mine is sort of soft and round.  How do you pull in a fluffy belly, and where the heck do you put it. I think you have to have muscle to pull things in.  I don't think you can pull fat in.  It just sort of mounds up and rolls around when I move.  And the other tape I have (yes, it's a tape...I confess) the Skinny Girl in the 80s leotard says "tuck in your butt."  What?  Is she kidding?  She obviously hasn't seen my butt.  It's round and soft and sort of going south for the winter, if you know what I mean.  How can I tuck it in?  It's not like the corners of the sheet when you tuck it in at the bottom of the bed.  Where am I supposed to tuck it?  And if I pull in my belly and tuck in my butt, do they meet somewhere in the middle?

I never really march or jump.  My round parts kind of jiggle around the living room like a bowl of jello.  Once I get going, I just have to try and keep up with my wiggly parts.  When my feet stop, it takes a minute or so for my butt and belly to stop. 

And it's not just my roundest parts that cause me problems.  My thighs and upper arms sort of waggle when I'm doing jumping jacks.  (I hate jumping jacks).  I'm afraid my bat-wing arms might take me airborne if I'm not careful with the waving movements.  And you know those skinny ladies with the thighs that don't touch when they walk?  I hate them.  My thighs are best friends.  No space there.  If I wore corduroy pants, you could hear me coming from a block away.  Swoosh, swoosh.  I do not own corduroy pants, by the way.

I am in better shape than I was a year ago.  I can do a few sit ups and push ups and I've graduated to 5 pound weights from little water bottles (yes with water in them).  Not exactly pumping iron, but an accomplishment for me, I'll tell you.  And perhaps, someday, I will have a place to put my gut and butt when Torture Guy and Skinny Girl in the 80s leotard says pull and tuck.

At 6 in the morning, I will be doing my best imitation of a mobile bowl of jello, wobbling from right to left, reaching for heaven while hoping my weight keeps me earthbound.  It's really not so bad once I catch the rhythm of the wobble.

Feels like summer

Today was actually hot.  But I have no illusions.  It's supposed to get cool again by the end of the week.  Sort of a peek a boo summer.  Why am I so fixated on the weather?  Because my garden is dying on the vine.  Nothing is growing much except the potatoes.  Everything else is just sitting there.  And I don't even know if the underground potato part of the plant is growing or just the green leafy stuff above the ground.  You can only really know if you pull the potato, and then all ya got is a scrawny potato wannabe. 

So I will pretend that summer is really here and that my garden is really growing and that I will really can bottles and bottles of tomatoes this year, and eat carrots, and enjoy green beans and all that.  The illusion keeps me going.

Right now we are like 3 bugs in a rug.  I'm rattling about the house with the short little mother-person finally home from Arizona; and the hollow leg, almost teen, here lick my upper lip and you can feel my mustache even though you can't see one stray hair there (yuk and double yuk) grandson spending the summer.  So far we're having a great time just like we had good sense.

And that, as they say, is that.