Blogging Day 6 Finding Funny Stuff or I Need to Laugh

I have an "off the wall"  sense of humor and I love it.  My mother would look at me and ask, "how can you laugh at a time like this?"  I don't mean funeral times or anything like that, but when I am feeling anxious or panicky.  I don't know why but I just do.

I love smiley faces and have a few in my room.  I was looking for some smiley drapes at one time but never did find them. 

I created a Fun Facebook page  where I post funny memes, videos or whatever.  So when I feel depressed or out of sorts I love to cruise the internet or Facebook for things to laugh at.  It helps.

I love videos of animals eating. A few of my posts might be over the top or have some colorful language.

Here is another of my favorites...

I know, silly and I hope this got you giggling a little.  If you want more hop on over to my Fun Page and read more. 

Blogging Day 5 - School Made me Feel Dumb, Stupid, Useless

I watched a video on Facebook today and a lot of emotions came up about how dumb I felt in school.  One reason was that I was hard of hearing and would you believe I didn't know it?  I knew I wasn't understanding things but never realized it was because I couldn't hear well.  Back in those days no one thought to check children's hearing.  No, they just thought I wasn't paying attention and scolded me or told me to "pay attention". That didn't help.  Instead I felt stupid.

One day I remember standing at the blackboard trying to work out a math problem.  I wasn't good at math to begin with but the teacher was trying to help and called on another child to tell me what to do. I couldn't hear the child and kind of fumbled around feeling dumber and dumber.  The class started laughing at me and I wanted to just run away, run home. Many times I would stare out the window wishing I could leave and go home. But I knew they would bring me back to school and scold me.  I even liked being sick so I didn't have to go to school.  This was the beginning of a school phobia and led to Agoraphobia.  I would have stomach aches every morning when I'd have to go to school and they thought I was "pretending".  This went on for twelve years. This is actually a form of Trauma and Flight or Freeze. I froze because of feeling stupid, inept and I couldn't flee.

I didn't know I had a brain in my head until I was 35 and sitting in a used book store among college graduates holding my own in the conversation. When I realized I actually was intelligent it was like a light was switched on.  I did love to read and was a voracious reader but I didn't realize I was actually smart.

Fast forward to now, I realize that if school had been different and my needs were listened to, things could have been a lot different. I'm not angry about it, there is no point to holding grudges but wow, I would have loved to have gone to school like today with internet, Google and homeschooling!

Here is the video that started my feelings and writing the blog.

Blogging Day 4 Fifty Five Years of Journaling

I have been keeping a journal since 1963 and have over fifteen filled notebooks dated and with numbered pages (at least on the earlier ones).  I am not going to digitize them.  Some of the ink on the pages has faded.  What do I do with these? 

There is a book called The Gentle Art of Death Cleansing which I haven't read yet.  But I read some articles about it and she says to get rid of journals! No one wants them.  Really?  I would love to read my Mother, Grandmother or Aunt's journals. I love to read journal books like  Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton.  My friend suggests donating them to a college.  However I doubt that they'd want it.

Just like our grandparents china, jewelry and furniture isn't wanted by this generation of young people.  I've heard and read that people are having a hard time getting rid of our Grandparents and parents "stuff".  No one wants piano's anymore.  It is a different world!

These journals tell my story about having panic attacks and anxiety and not knowing what was wrong with me until I discovered I had Agoraphobia.   I wrote about what I did to try and get rid of the panic attacks.  I wrote about different methods I discovered and the various therapies I tried.

I wrote about arguments I had with my mother and more.  It was good for me to write and I'm sure it helped my mental health.  I don't feel much like keeping a journal anymore. Blogging and emails seem to satisfy me now.

But what do I do with my journals? I'm almost 82. I doubt if I'll write my memoirs.  Who would read them? Would I have time?  Do I even want to spend the energy on this?  Probably not unless I was totally alone with no distractions.

So if you read this I would be interested in ideas, suggestions.  Thanks.

Blogging Day 3 Addicted to Magazines

MY NAME IS JEAN AND I AM ADDICTED TO MAGAZINES!

Ok now I got that out of the way.  Before we moved I downsized big time.  I got rid of a lot of my magazine clutter.

Yes I still have a few piles of magazines I want to go through, like my Writer's Digest issues and The Sun magazines. I think I got rid of my pile of Twilight Zone magazines but there are still some boxes in the shed to go through, so maybe I didn't.  I sort of hope not.

Now I have other ways to get magazines that satisfy and feed my addiction. (I don't consider all addictions bad).  My library offers RBdigital.  Here is where we can download magazines electronically as in "borrowing" from the library. This includes Readers Digest, Our State (NC), National Geographic, Taste of Home, Better Homes and Garden, Oprah, Food Network, Quilting, Rolling stone and more... I can enlarge the pages on my ipad, phone or computer to make the print easier to read. It's like reading a large print book.  Oh yes, we can borrow books and audio books on RBdigital too.

I also subscribed to Texture.  What a fabulous place this is for feeding my magazine addiction.  I got a 30 day free trial and after that I had to pay.  I love PEOPLE magazine so that is a bit extra.  But my office isn't cluttered like it used to be.  All my magazines are online now.  I even subscribe to Writer's Digest and The Sun online.  Every time I get groceries I look at the magazines as I stand in line and before subscribing to Texture I would impulsively grab a People or Woman's World as a reward to myself.  Now I look at these displays and realize I really am saving money and clutter.

No more piles of magazines!!!

Blogging Day 2 --The Miracles in my Instant Pot

I have always liked the idea of cooking in a pressure cooker but I was terrified of them.  We bought one from QVC and were both afraid to use it even though they are supposed to be safe. No more exploding pots with peas on the ceiling or mashed potatoes on the walls.  But still we were too scared to try cooking in it and I don't like to admit it but we gave it away brand new.

Ok fast forward awhile when I started reading about the Instant Pot.   What is an Instant Pot? I didn't know so I went to You Tube and started watching videos!  I was mesmerized.  "I can do this!" I told myself. So I went to Amazon and ordered the 6 qt one.   I joined several online Instant Pot groups on Facebook and Googled Instant Pot recipes.  So the fun began.

I bought a 3 lb boneless chuck roast and followed a recipe I found online.  Because my IP is not oblong I had to cut the roast into 3 or 4 pieces. It has a saute button so I pushed it and put some olive oil in the pot and put in the meat to brown.  After the meat was all browned I took it out with tongs and put it on a plate. Then I started adding my vegetables - sliced onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms and seasonings.  When they were lightly sauteed I added the meat back, added a can of beef Consume (beef broth works too) and a half a can of water and whole peeled potatoes.   I pushed the off button, put the lid on, turned it to seal and pushed the manual button the + adjusted it to 55 minutes. The pot had to build up steam, so it took longer than 55 minutes but basically about ten minutes. Then I checked to see if the little silver button was popped up, show it had built up to pressure.  Then it started counting down. After it reached 55 minutes it beeped and I released the pressure by turning the release knob carefully to let out all the steam.  When it stopped hissing and the silver button was down, I opened the lid and took out everything onto a serving plate.  I mixed up some corn starch slurry and whisked it into the remaining liquid, making a delicious thickened gravy.

Here is the result:  A delicious, melt in our mouths tender pot roast with cooked vegetables and potatoes.  A One pot meal.   

I've made this several times along with pork chops, the most delicious rice and chicken I've ever eaten and spaghetti where I push uncooked pasta into the sauce, cover the pot and cook for TEN minutes!  Yes, 10 minutes for delicious spaghetti with enough left over for 3 more meals.

I call these my miracles in my Instant pot. I bought a second pot which has come in handy.

I am not an affiliate for the Instant Pot but one can make yogurt in it,  and it can be used as a slow cooker, and more.  I've even read about people making cheesecake in the pot and cooking hard boiled eggs.  It's amazing what this little pot can do and the price is under $100! I will never be without one now.

 Spaghetti in my Instant Pot

Spaghetti on my plate.

Day 1 April Blogging - Downsizing, Piano Lessons and More

When I read that Effy invited us blog for the month of April I got excited.  I do like to blog but don't always know what to say.  Like I said, I got excited.  Then the thought of having to think what to blog about for a whole month made me feel tired.  "I don't want to HAVE to blog every day" I told a friend.  I still feel somewhat the same way.  But I will try and not be too hard on myself if it doesn't  happen.

We moved last summer after downsizing from a 2 story house with a full basement into a one level manufactured home in an over 55 development.  It is lovely with a big clubhouse that has a library, a workout room and kitchen and dining.  There are monthly potluck dinners and special get-togethers.  We have a place to walk that is flat which is good living in the mountains. There is a lovely park and a library branch directly across the street. We love living here. Our other house was on top of a mountain and we got snowed in a lot during the winter.  We had 14 stairs to climb from the garage to the kitchen and that got old. Every time we come home from grocery shopping we are thankful we can walk right into the kitchen and not up all those stairs. Not only that but I have a washer and dryer right off the kitchen behind bifold doors.  I now LOVE doing laundry. No more hauling laundry up and down the stairs from the basement.

This "new" house was completely furnished including a piano. I've heard that it is hard to get rid of a piano these days.  We tried but no one wants to haul it away. So I decided to play. I have several boxes of music that I'd collected over the years that are still packed away.  But this wasn't how I wanted to play anymore.  A friend told me about a piano course on Udemy for only $9.  I thought that was too good to be true.  What a surprise though.  It is all about learning chords and how to play open chords, closed ones and how to change chords easily moving up and down the keyboard.  Then it goes on to explain and show how to add rhythm.  So different than when I was a child taking piano lessons.  I hated practicing so bad I spent that time standing in the corner for punishment. It wasn't fun. But playing chords is fun.  I had so much fun that I bought two more courses and I just play as I want, no "shoulds", no pressure.  Because the courses are online I can access them any time I want. 

The piano needs work.  It needs tuning and something was spilled on the keys.  I can use it as is.  I'm not sure who to call for an estimate yet.  I do have a portable keyboard though, so I will always have something to play on.

Frustrated Guardian Angels

Do our angels really get frustrated with us?  Do they really look like this when we ask for guidance and don't follow their help?

Today I was talking with a client who was frustrated that she was asking for guidance and wasn't hearing anything.   As we talked, she learned that indeed she was getting guidance but not following it.  She admitted she was skeptical.  That made me think of this image of this angel meme that I'd seen many times. I forget what my angels tell me what to do too.  I told her and we laughed about the angel image.

I never liked the picture because I had this impression that our angels never got upset with us, that they understood.  I am sure they do understand our humanness.  But I wonder, do they ever just cover their eyes and shake their heads?  I know angels are supposed to be without personalities.  People do ask for their angel's names.  I was in a class where the teacher told us we each had a healing angel and instead of giving me it's name, she said to ask myself.  I did and got his name.  I even saw a face that looked human.  I have gotten much help from him since.  

So what do you think?  I am sure that even if they do get frustrated with us from time to time they still love us.  And during these times maybe we can be more loving and compassionate to ourselves.  Maybe we can think of our frustrated angels and laugh a little.