Is Slow Living Bliss?

Heidi kumquat small, not Heidi@lightlycrunchy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 To say that Heidi @ lightlycrunchy is my favourite blogger would not be true. But she is in the upper tier of my favourites. I have never been one to have a best friend, but lots of best friends, as I never like to be exclusive. (Now whether these people feel the same about me may be a different story). Heidi is one of my best friends. Not just blog friends, as I think that is a good term, but one that categorizes people in a sort of arm’s length way. Nope, Heidi sent me a present after I admired something that she knit (a pretty Christmas-y dishcloth). No fuss, no bother—she just sent it. I have it tucked away in a drawer to bring out next Christmas to festively hand wash my dishes.

 I read every one of her posts as soon as they show up in my email, and I love her sense of humour – she turns a highly informative and useful blog into one that is enjoyable and funny. She never preaches, she just tells us what she does. She never criticizes and she is humble about her many accomplishments from cooking to sewing, knitting to growing a fantastic garden and then using the harvest in all manner of ways, to holding down a job and mothering her two girls, and bragging about her husband.

I admire her and I admire the fact that at the end of every month, no matter how busy she is she does a roundup of what the month held using terms she gleaned from Slow Living Essentials. Now when you go to her site and read her monthly round-ups, you will see that they are full of substantial entries, of things she and her family and friends and relatives did that month to fulfill the key subjects set out by Slow Living.

In my own way, I am going to attempt the same, but instead of month end, I am going to start this month of March with some goals set by using the subject titles: Nourish; Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Repair; Green; Grow; Create; Discover; Enhance; and Enjoy.

Nourish:

I am going to make a meal from a bona fide new recipe this month and not just recycle my tried and true off the cuff recipes. I am also going to continue my “If It Is Saturday, It Must Be Recipe Day” post.

International Recycling Symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Repair:

I am going to get my blue and red boxes to the curb this week. After missing two pick-ups (which are every other week) – I have a mound of recyclables on my back porch. By finally getting this stuff out to the curb I will repurpose my back porch—as I will be able to find it again. I will repair the back pockets on a pair of my jeans and a pair of John’s jeans, and fix my son’s game carrier—the elastic strap is broken.

Green:

I am going to recycle my recyclables. I am perhaps going to use a hint or two from Heidi, but don’t hold your breath on this one.

Remember back in the ‘90’s when all the rage was to buy green products etc? I am going to restart my earlier enthusiasm for this, and try my hand at making some green products. My sister has given me a teeth whitening recipe of 3% hydrogen peroxide and baking soda—so perhaps I will give that a whirl.  She says to only use it once a week, with your regular toothpaste.

Grow:

This one is difficult, as I have a black thumb, and not from lovely luscious humus. I will start small—maybe a violet. I have been known to be able to keep these alive. Our back garden will probably come to life down the road, but it is too soon for that.

Create:

I call writing creating, so I will continue writing. But I am thinking of getting back into my cut and paste phase—I may make some cards (something I love to do) and get back into scrapbooking. I create a lot of messes, but I do not think this counts. I love to create little vignettes around the house—and since it is time to replace the snowmen with something a little less wintry—I will be doing a little interior decorating.

Discover magazine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Discover:

This one is easy. I am a curious soul, so discovering is something I love to do. I am planning on spending an afternoon in my local library to write an article about it for my weekly newspaper column. I visit the library often, but do not spend a lot of time there in one sitting. I want to discover what goes on there and what I may be missing.

Enhance (Community):

As the municipal reporter for our local paper, I like to think I enhance the community by writing up articles that inform the residents of what is going on in the town and what they should be expecting.

Enjoy:

This can take in so many things—do not think I will make a prediction here.

So, at the end of the month, I will write up an end of the month round-up, and we will see what we will see. Thanks for the idea Heidi. Join me if you like.

Can slow living (my definition: mindful living) be the answer to our bliss?

Related articles

• ~ Family Bliss ~ (onthehomefrontandbeyond.wordpress.com)
• Slow Living – January (organisedcastle.wordpress.com)

Bliss Returns ~ Day 8

Sudden Loud Noises (Photo credit: STML)

In the last twenty years I have probably seen about five movies at a theatre that were not animated. Yes, I have kids. And for a while I saw every animated movie there was. And then I just lost interest in going to the movies—you can rent, buy, or see most stuff on television if you wait long enough or have the desire.

On Sunday, I went to the movies with my husband, and we saw “Guilt Trip” with Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen. We were given passes to a movie with two drinks and regular popcorn for Christmas, so we thought we would make use of them. We scoured the paper to see what movies were being offered, and it being just past the holiday season, there were lots to choose from.  But I did not want to see an adventure movie, or the Hobbit movie (sorry Cindy), or a sad movie….I wanted to see something light that would not break my resolution of finding my bliss.

So, we settled on “Guilt Trip”. Or actually my husband settled. I was quite happy to find a movie that was not shoot ‘em up, depressing, or a fantasy.

Well I just loved it. It was in a word: charming. The humour was gentle, the story heart-warming, and the ending happy. Smultzy? Not really. It was pleasant; indeed, it was storytelling at its best. There was conflict, but it was resolved. There were laughs, but also some serious everyday stuff that happens in all of our lives. It was just a good movie. A son and his mother on a road trip. But the son had an agenda, and that is what the whole movie was about. In the end. It was a worthwhile trip for the movie goer.

The only unblissful part of the movie date was the trailers that came on before the movie. We were inundated with probably about eight trailers—and the cacophony of noise blast at us and around us was an assault to the senses. It was too loud—so loud that it reverberated thunderously through the body almost to the point of shutting down. Bliss came when the trailers ended and the movie we had signed on to see came on the screen.

Sometimes bliss is relief in disguise.

Have you ever found bliss when something stopped?

~ One ~ Happy New Year! ! ! ! ! ! ! ~ Resolution 2013 ~ Finding My Bliss

12 O’Clock – January 1, 2013 (Photo credit: ladytimeless)

What a party we had–I will do a synopsis of it soon–but the food, wine, music, and entertainment were fantastic and the hundreds and hundreds of guests incredible!  Now if I can just get Robin to come down off the table, and Vanessa to move over in the kitchen we will have breakfast. While I am waiting for the bacon to cook, I am going share my resolution and a few random thoughts with you:

In the past I have made serious resolutions; quirky resolutions; philosophically based resolutions; and finally refused to make resolutions on the grounds that doing so might incriminate me. This year I am trying a new tactic in the hopes that I will not be one of those statistics that they come out with every year saying that 92.4% of people give up on their resolutions 3.4 days after making them.

Today I resolve to find my bliss. I put it somewhere and I am sure I am going to find it again. I found my brother’s missing Christmas gift the other day (only five days after Christmas) so I am sure I am going to be able to find my bliss. So what is bliss? I figure it is something that I can probably spend the rest of my life discovering as it takes on so many guises: happiness, contentedness, serenity, delight, harmony, and in some corners blessedness. Now wouldn’t it be nice to be blessed?

The Encarta Dictionary says that bliss is “complete happiness” or a “state of spiritual joy”. I am thinking here that I may never need to make another resolution again—just finding my bliss will encompass all those things I want to accomplish. Losing those five pounds that I lost and found again? Bliss. Eating healthy? Bliss. Being content with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book? Bliss. See how it works? No more having to bother to make a resolution every year—this one encompasses all.

~Looking Back to Look Forward~

One of my favourite columnists is Mitch Albom with the Detroit Free Press. He has written some books, and from the sales figures, he is a pretty successful author. But, I find that he writes best in column form. He is succinct, pithy, and at times amusing. His column from Sunday, December 30^th is one I am saving, and I am going to share a couple of paragraphs that really spoke to me, and I hope you will find engaging as well.

He said, “When all was said and done, 2012 was completely different from years before it, yet very much the same, because certain things are true no matter how long we live.

Mitch Albom 。 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

News stories come, news stories go; nothing is as great as it sounds and nothing is as bad. Technology is replaced by more technology; celebrities replace previous celebrities; science discovers something, then searches for something else.

And the only thing that truly affects your year is how you lived within your own house, how you treated and were treated by your loved ones, and how you helped the people and community around you.”

Then he asked the question: “Judged by that, how was your 2012?”

I think that if we take his observations into account, we are equipped to handle 2013 in perhaps a more thoughtful way. I know that I am guilty sometimes of not treating the people I love most in the most loving way. They get the brunt of my frustration and they do not deserve it. They are the people who are here for me, and will continue to be in my corner. So, in addition to finding my bliss—or actually as a part of finding my bliss, I am going to try to treat my loved ones the way I want to be treated—in effect passing the bliss around a little more.

Mitch is right–the only thing that truly affects us is how we live within our own house and how we treat our loved ones and the community we live in.

Happy 2013, and may you all find your bliss, however you define it!

Memories

Cover of Thinking About Memoir (AARP)

Memories: recollections, reminiscences, remembrances. So many of us have been talking about our memories of Christmas past,  but do we trust our memories? Are they faithful to what really happened, or coloured by our particular rose-coloured glasses or half empty attitudes?

Abigail Thomas says this about memories in her book, “Thinking About Memoir”: “Memory seems to be an independent creature inspired by event, not faithful to it. Maybe memory is what the mind does with its free time, decorating itself. Maybe it’s like cave paintings. The thing is, I’m old enough now to know that the past is every bit as unpredictable as the future, and that memory, mine anyway, is not a faithful record of anything, and truth is not an absolute.”

Ms. Thomas describes the way I remember things. I know this because when I talk to my siblings about events that took place in our collective childhoods, we all remember things differently. I remember details that they did not notice and they remember things I do not. Sometimes it seems we were not even  at the same event, but we were all there. Of course, I think I am right—but I am not. My memories are tinted by my personality and by what I want to remember.

Maybe Memories (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being in the same place at the same time and having a totally different recollection of the event is not all that surprising. Perception affects memory, altering it from the truth to perhaps something more palatable.

What do you think?

Related articles

• Selective Memory (thestorywithin.wordpress.com)

Wishes Come True

Gift Card Holder Ornament (Photo credit: ecokarenlee)

I told everyone in my family that if I did not get a gift card from Chapters for Christmas that there would be trouble. My husband took me seriously. Apparently he did not want trouble. On the Christmas tree was a pretty little card, and inside was the sacred gift card. I love going to Chapters (or any bookstore if truth be known). In fact I once owned a bookstore, but an unexpected but happy pregnancy, a second premature child (who is now a healthy 6’1″ college student), and a number of other factors led to its closure–but the point here is that I love books–buying them, borrowing them from the library, and most of all, reading them. I did not particularly care for selling them though.

Anyway, we got up early this Boxing Day morning and made our way into the city to the nearest Chapters, about 30 miles away. There was a winter storm brewing and threatening to blow its way here by noon, so I wanted to be back in my warm and cozy home before it got here. Target time to take off was 8:30; we made it out of the house by 9:00 a.m. Not bad in my books.

I used my card well and purchased “The End of Your Life Book Club” by Will Schwalbe and “The Mindful Writer” by Dinty W. Moore who promises that it is filled with “noble truths of the writing life.” Because they were hardcovers and 30% off, I shared the rest of my card with my family, buying a book about vintage guitars for my oldest son, and a motorcycle mag for my husband.

We got home just as the storm was starting–the wind is blowing right now and the snow is coming down a shade past gently and we are going to get four to eight inches. I know, I know this is Canada, so I guess we are getting between 8 and 10 centimetres–but I am still old school.

Hoping you all are having a relaxing day after all the excitement of Christmas, and are warm and cozy if it is cold out, and cool and happy if you live somewhere warm.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! (Photo credit: blacklord)

Like all of you, I have been busy, busy, busy and have not been able to read all the blogs I want to lately, but know I will be visiting all of you as soon as things slow down a bit. I want to wish you all a heartfelt Merry Christmas.

I leave you with some lovely and wise words to ponder:

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.” ~ Calvin Coolidge

Happy Christmas Eve!

Nativity scene. The reason for the season!  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Woke up at 3. Read the final chapters of a book I needed to finish. Got up at 4 and decided to finally bake my Christmas cookies and bars. My 21 year old son who has odd sleeping habits was awake, so he helped me, making the chore much more jolly. I put on a  little Christmas music and we measured and mixed and dotted the thumbprint cookies with seedless raspberry jam, added the chocolate chips to my never fail Toffee Bars, and put a frozen pizza in for my son’s breakfast.

By my very nature, I do not like to be in the kitchen for more than 30 minutes at a time–but at this time of year I make a little more of an effort. I still have some chocolate caramel fudge to make, and am having a ham for Christmas Eve and prime rib for Christmas Day, and…… a brunch for my other son and his girlfriend tomorrow morning (something I just found out about–but my husband has volunteered to make pancakes–so that with some bacon and fried ham {leftover from tonight} and a little fruit should cover it). I think I spend more time in the kitchen at Christmas then I do for the whole rest of the year. I am trying to look upon this as not a chore, but as making memories ~ it makes the tasks so much easier.

I still have all my presents to wrap, but I think most of them will get the wrapped in tissue and bag treatment, with a few officially wrapped just so people can tear a little wrapping paper off for good measure. I may even throw on a bow or two.

Yesterday, I cleaned up the office, which is also my dining room and found the top of the table. I cannot believe how nice it is in this room now. It was well worth the effort. Now we can have our Christmas feasts at a table rather than on our laps.

I am busy–but who isn’t? My food will be simple, my gifts will be wrapped (somehow in some way), the stockings will be stuffed, and I will relax with my favourite glass of rose (my newfound favourite drink–silky on the tongue with plummy overtones and like heaven with dark chocolate.)

Reprise album The Soupy Sales Show (1961). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A random Christmas Eve memory or two:

1.I remember when I was a kid there was a local program called the Soupy Sales Show and on Christmas Eve Soupy kept us updated on where Santa’s sleigh was in relation to where we lived, so we could get to bed and not catch the big Elf putting presents under our tree. I still remember watching the program with great concentration–I did not want to do anything that might deter the big guy from coming to my house.

2. Another Christmas Eve, when I was about eight, I heard footsteps on the roof over my bedroom and then jingle bells, and my sister and I were sure Santa was at our house. We squeezed our eyes shut and held our breath–we did not want Santa to know we were still awake. Why we did not venture out to find him in our living room I will never know–I think we were indoctrinated to believe that Santa would not leave us anything if we caught him. Found out later that our big brothers had climbed on the roof over our bedroom to keep the magic alive for us. And they did. I still believe in Santa Claus.

Do  you still believe in Santa?

Make A Plan

Merry Christmas! (Photo credit: Kelvin Servigon)

I have received a lot of advice in my life. Some I ignore. Some I am delighted to receive. And some I have to digest before I use it.

The following four short pieces of advice {which really meld into one} are from one of my favourite foodies, Rachael Ray, and they will stand me in good stead this holiday season if I take the time to heed them.

So (drum roll please), here are her pithy words of advice:

Rachael Ray Mag (Photo credit: Bekit)

Less is more

Keep it simple

Invite People

Make a plan.

She was referring to entertaining, but I think these words can be used in so many facets of our lives. The only change I would make is to “Make a plan” then “invite people” but that is just the way I roll.

This holiday season I have to keep in mind what is important. As the days wind down towards the big day I have a plan–I know that making my thumbprint cookies with seedless raspberry jam is more important than making sure every room in my house is spick and span; I know that making some good and  simple food will make my family happy and that creating fancy unfamiliar dishes would only cause stress; I know that wrapping the presents in whatever fashion I can, is more important than making sure everything is perfectly bowed and all corners sharp; I know that  family and friends are more important than my to do lists.

So, as I pare down my expectations, I do not pare down what makes this season merry and bright–good food, good friends, and family as well as something to open, something to drink, something to eat, and something to laugh at. And, oh yeah, better not forget to make the fudge.

What is the one important thing you must do to make your holiday merry?

Christmas Quotes of Note

Food Network Magazine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Long before I had a thought about women’s liberation, I was introduced to Peg Bracken. She was more of my mother’s era than mine, but she influenced me in a profound way. She did not like to cook, back when it was unfashionable. Back when it was not supposed to be questioned. She and I have a lot in common–though it is not necessarily the cooking I don’t like, it is the cleaning up. I am so jealous of all my my heroines and heroes on the Food Network, not because they have kitchens to die for, and create wonderful culinary pleasures–it is because they can make as much mess as they want to, and not have to clean it up. That is one of my versions of heaven, not having to clean up after myself.

Anyway, Peg Bracken was famous for her “I Hate to Cook  Book” and “I Hate to Housekeep Book” and “The I Hate to Cook Almanack” which I am going to take a quote or two  from today. One sums up Christmas quite nicely; the other, well I will let you be the judge.

The first is attributed to Christopher Morley:

“Just for a few hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the stupid, harsh mechanism of the world runs down, and we permit ourselves to live according to untrammeled good sense, the unconquerable efficiency of good will. We grant ourselves the complete and selfish pleasure of loving others better than ourselves. How odd it seems, how unnaturally happy we are!”

The other quote I that I found sort of amusing, and sort of not, was this one by Albert Wooky:

“Since childhood, I have viewed with distinctly bridled enthusiasm the general custom of cooking and serving a large Christmas dinner. All I ever saw of my mother on that day was the bow on her apron.”

Do you have memories of your mom’s apron bow?

Christmas Dreams Meet Reality ~ A Collision Course?

Cover of The Best Christmas Ever

As I sit down with my first coffee of the day (stirred not shaken) I am contemplating all that needs to be done before the big day.

I always have such grandiose plans in my head—everything will be wrapped to perfection preferably in the most environmentally pleasing way possible; the house will be clean and neat as a pin (really, how neat is a pin?); and I will pull out all the culinary stops and serve food of such delight I will be written up in Gourmet magazine (which I think may be defunct).

It is not too late to face the reality of the situation, but since I am somewhat pragmatic and know my limitations, here is what is probably going to happen:

1. The presents will get wrapped, but mostly bagged as that is easier and I will probably be doing it on Christmas Eve. No need to rush. I did buy an extra package of scotch tape just in case though. I am thinking I should bona fide wrap at least one gift for each recipient and bag the rest.

3. Did you notice I skipped number 2? I think it was the one where I polish the silverware for the Christmas table. Yes, I have real silverware. I inherited it. No, I will not be polishing it until I can afford a butler to do such things.

4. I will be neatening up the house and spraying some furniture polish around to give it that clean smell. I will get the vacuum out—and possibly use it. It is a beast though and after a while I just get tired of using it and close the doors to the rooms that I do not get to (usually the bedrooms upstairs).

5. I am on a quest. It is going to be quite an adventure. I need to locate the top of my dining room table which is now covered with all manner of things—some last minute Christmas shopping which has not been delivered to my bedroom which is covered in bags where I have hidden the presents in plain sight; book work, a purse, a calculator, mail, books, newspapers, Christmas cards, receipts—okay, you get my drift…

6. Food. Okay we are having ham on Christmas Eve and prime rib (because it is on sale) for Christmas Day. There is still much shopping to be done in this category—I always overbuy food for Christmas, but is there really such a thing? My mother always had lots of food in her house, and I try to maintain that tradition. She though actually cooked and prepared the food—I have to realize my limitations: I think like a gourmet, but cook so the masses will not starve.

7. I have all the stuff to make cookies and fudge—so Saturday is reserved for a baking spree. I do it for my family—I derive little pleasure from the making of it, but much from the eating of it—so I keep that firmly in mind.

I do love Christmas, and as the devil is in the details, I have to take care of my devilish duties in order to get to the good parts. Should I reach my financial potential, I dream of coming up with the ideal Christmas and dispensing my elves to do my bidding. Until then, I will do my best, and then enjoy—for is that not what this season is all about?

So what Christmas dreams do you have—and which ones will you realize?