On My Mind Today

 I love to cook, and I live with an Italian man who loves to eat.  Not sure if this is a great combination or a dangerous one. Guess it depends on what I am cooking. I do not cook fried foods and try to prepare healthy meals as much as possible, but I do love to bake. Nothing better than fresh baked goods if you love your sweets. Every day he will call me from work and say "here is the most important question of the day, what's for dinner tonight?" Of course I have already told him, but he forgets. Often I will be trying something new which makes him apprehensive, but most of the time he will be happy with the outcome. When we go out to eat and I like what I have ordered, I will analyze how it was prepared and what ingredients are in it. This way I can go home and try to replicate the recipe. When it comes to food and cooking I have no fear about diving in. Most of the time it is a success, and once I have figured it out I love to share the recipes. Having sa

    When I saw this posted on FaceBook I was struck by the absolute truth in such a simple statement. We all have days where it is difficult to move forward. When we think it is easier to talk and complain about what is wrong in our lives. But this reminded me that it really is easier to talk about our joys.   If you stop and think of the amount of energy it takes for you to lament about your problems, you would realize how down and heavy it makes you feel. Then think of how your heart and spirit feel when you tell people of all the wonderful joys in your life. They lift us up and bring a smile to our face, and we all know it takes far less energy to smile than it does to frown.   We also know that if we talk about our problems endlessly then there will come a point where nobody will want to see us coming. We will become one of "those" people that others hide from. Negativity brings us all down.   So......today choose to talk about your joys. Be the ray of

I have had the pleasure of having my daughter and grandchildren with us for the past several days. As we get older we tend to forget how much fun little kids can be. They are open to trying new things and use their imagination to explore their world. Since I don't have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them I try to do as much as possible while they are here. We have watched snowmobiles and ATV's race on the frozen lake. Made a snowman in Nanu's garden. Took them through Sam's Club which is an adventure as they love trying all the sample foods. Laughing as we watch Ice Age Continental Divide and Hotel Transylvania. Love the animated movies as they have humor for children and adults all in one. Yesterday we went bowling which I have not done in years. It was such a blast and amusing to watch the 4 year old roll the ball down the lane. Sometimes her innocent technique worked better than ours. It was nice to turn off from the TV and electronics and just have

This blog has been a work in progress for a few months. Mostly because it has been a difficult one to write. I wanted to be sure not to miss anything that I needed to say. Mary L., Pam, Mary V. and Faye (photos below). We met in Jr. High and by High School became close friends sharing our lives from that point forward. We made it through all of the typical high school drama from boys, to tough classes, family issues, and on and on. We had lots of fun and many adventures along the way with the usual heartaches and tears. Things we pulled each other through because that is what you do for a friend. We always managed to remain friends even when our paths took us in different directions for years at a time. We knew that we would be there for each other if needed. All we had to do was make a call. I remember after high school venturing out and thinking we were all grown up when we got our first apartments. Taking trips out to Grafton, VT where the "twins" had a camp perfect f

Looking at all the programs they keep producing that show the worst of people's lives, and knowing that so many are watching is very disconcerting. The people they display are often offensive, immobile and fixed. To think we would rather look at such negative nonsense, instead of embracing our own life, absolutely puzzles me. It is so apparent that we have become a society that seems to dwell on the negative. I guess it is very easy to see the things that are not right, and much harder to look deeper to see the many positive possibilities. It takes energy and a positive attitude to move your life in a direction that will bring joy and happiness. None of it comes by just sitting back and expecting it to show up. You need to engage yourself each day and see what could be. Try something that you have not tried - even if it is not a success at least you have tried. The next time you will do something to make it a success, or move on to what can be a success for you. One of the best t

So...for days we heard the hype on the upcoming blizzard. Listening to the news was enough to scare people into thinking they would be cut off from the world for days and days. People flocked to the stores for supplies that would last a week. I don't know about you, but I normally have enough in the house to last for several days. Thank God most of us fared well in spite of snowfall up to 30" in many places. Growing up in Vermont a snow storm is just another snow storm - we grew up with many big storms, and most of the time we looked at it as a day off from school. Time to play and build snowmen and snow forts, have snowball fights, go sledding - so many fun things to do. We also knew that the best thing to do is stay home and let the storm pass. It never occurred to us to get in the car and go out on the roads and highways. We left that to the plows and waited for the roads to be cleared of the latest deposit from Mother Nature. Although winter may not be my favorite mont

After living more than 50 years I have discovered that we need to become better at being alone. I am not saying we should be lonely, but we should like ourselves enough to enjoy being with "us". When I went through a divorce I ended up living by myself for almost four years. At first it was difficult as I had not been alone in many years, but as time passed it became very natural to be alone. A friend once said to me "isn't it lonely?" I responded by telling them that there is a difference between being alone and being lonely. Of course you get lonely sometimes, but having someone on the couch next to you just to have someone there is just as lonely in the end. And usually those we quickly put on that couch next to us are not people who truly enhance our lives. They tend to be those who also do not want to be alone, and take away from who we are both emotionally and financially. What I did find in this transition is that I'm okay, that I like the person

So it is just over 2 hours before the kick-off for Super Bowl 47. I'm sure New Orleans is enjoying the rewards of having so many visitors. Imagine the money that has been flowing into the city over the past week! The Baltimore Ravens vs The San Francisco 49ers. Although many on the east coast will be rooting for the Ravens, I will not be one of them. Being a die hard Patriots fan I still feel the sting of the big loss to the Ravens in the playoffs. That was a difficult game to watch. Even harder as I was in Las Vegas with my sister, and the restaurant we were having dinner in was filled with Ravens fans. My heart is not truly into this Super Bowl game, but I am sure I will enjoy the commercials as we all do. Sometimes they are more fun to watch than the game. In the end I think we all enjoy the hype leading up to the game and the camaraderie of watching with friends and eating all the foods we should not eat. When all is said and done - some fans will be thrilled and others dis