More Comfort Food!!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013
NaBloPoMo asks: What makes you reach for comfort food?

Emotional eating is a huge problem for me and the comfort that I get from food is temporary. As a diabetic the negative effects of emotional eating are much more long term. My problem is when I am emotional I am living in that moment, not thinking about how this will affect my blood sugar in 30 minutes, much less how it will effect my health in 10 years. Diabetes is sneaky that way, it creeps up on you when you are not paying attention. You know you have it, you know what needs to be done. But doing it day in and day out, year after year is hard, so much harder than you realize when you are first diagnosed.

Ugh. Just thinking about that makes me want something to eat. See my problem?

Comfort Food!

Monday, May 6, 2013
NaBloPoMo asks: What is your biggest comfort food?

Have I mentioned that I am an overweight, middle aged, diabetic? Or that I am a serious emotional eater? Well, I am. And to top it off, I HATE to cook and I am picky about textures. For instance, I cannot eat a tomato, not because of the flavor, but because of the skin and the slimy seedy parts. Makes me gag every time. So, when it comes to comfort food I eat a lot of things that I absolutely should not be eating. Lots of processed junk (potato chips), or high carb foods like Mac and Cheese and Mashed potatoes, that kind of thing.

I think my favorite comfort food at the moment is a hot buttery biscuit. Fresh from the oven, split open and a pat of butter on each half. Yum. I grew up making biscuits from scratch every Sunday morning for my parents. I can't remember when it started, but for years I got up early on Sunday mornings (around 5:30), sifted the flour (remember doing that?), mixing in the salt and baking soda, cutting in the Crisco, and finally mixing in the milk. Rolling out the dough and using a biscuit cutter, dipping the cut dough in melted butter and then placing it on a cookie sheet to bake in a hot oven. Only then did I go wake my parents (all of this was my step dad's idea, I think to teach me some responsibility).

These days I do things a bit differently. My biscuits come from the freezer section of my local grocery store and have a picture of the Pillsbury Dough Boy on the package. I much prefer this method of baking!

Image source

So, what is your favorite comfort food? :)

Sunday thoughts and fur babies

I have a confession. We are cat people. And we have too many cats. People ask me from time to time how many we have and I always say "too many", mostly because it is depressing to count them. And because people look at me like I am crazy.

It wasn't always this way. About 6 months before our marriage my hubby brought home this adorable ball of fluff that we named Smokey. A year or 2 later my sweet husband brought home Little Bit and Tigger. And we were a family of 5, 2 humans and 3 felines. Then about a year later he brought home Jonah (are you seeing the pattern?). Five became six and we were officially outnumbered by the felines.

We rocked along with those numbers holding steady for several years until we found an abandoned kitten in our yard during a flash flood. We brought her in and cleaned her up. Her name is Sassy and at this moment she is curled up on the couch next to me, napping with Jonah and Cuddle Bug.

Cuddles is the black and white one, Sassy is the cream one and Jonah is the fuzzy one.

After that we rescued Cricket and Tiny Mite. And things started to get out of control. Years later, Cricket and Tiny are gone (as well as Smokey, Tigger, and Little Bit) and so many more have come and gone. We both have a soft spot for the sick and the injured. We have spent more money on saving (or trying to save) cats that we found in parking lots and fields or that have been dumped near our home.

Tonight we have a pet taxi in our living room with one of our fur babies in it. It's Pakita and I am pretty sure she has "thrown" a blood clot that has damaged her brain. I have seen this before. In fact, her momma (Tiny Mite) passed away from this exact same thing. I pray I am wrong. That it's an infection or some other treatable problem. But I am afraid it's not. She isn't eating or drinking anything, she is just sitting there with this wide eyed vacant look. It breaks my heart.

I have spoken with the vet and am planning to take her in when they open in the morning. Pakita is about 9 years old, that is considered elderly (strange to me since Jonah is 19 and just starting to slow down) so we have decided not to be too aggressive in treatment. We have to be practical, but it is so hard. It feels like giving up. It feels like I am abandoning my baby girl.


Please pray for us. Pray that we make the right decision for Pakita. Pray that she isn't in pain. Thank you.

My sweet girl during better days

Thirty Days of Truth: Day 8

Day 08. Someone who made your life difficult.

Wow! That's a long list! I mean, people are difficult by nature, so if you have to deal with one (or a group of them) for more than a minute or two chances are somebody is going to make life difficult (except me of course, I am NEVER difficult!).

But there is one person who comes to mind as one of the most difficult people I have ever dealt with. He was the pharmacist-in-charge in the first pharmacy I ever worked in. I worked with this man for more than 4 years and he made every single day difficult. I came home crying more nights than I care to remember. Other techs came and went, run off by this man's behavior. But I stuck it out. I needed that job and I was stubborn. I just couldn't bring myself to walk away and let him win. So I kept at it, day after day. And just when I was at the very end of my rope things changed. Note I said "things" not "him". As far as I know he never did change. But he did leave. The pharmacy was sold to a new owner who offered me a job but chose not to offer my offensive coworker one. I had won!!

source

I did win, but not because he left and I stayed. I won because sticking it out all those years taught me some valuable life lessons on coping with difficult people and overcoming impossibly ugly situations. I truly believe that God used that time in my life to prepare me for new challenges, for the blessings and the difficulties involved in living. No matter where I find myself, if I slow down, take a deep breath and pray, I can overcome anything! (and a little dose of stubbornness doesn't hurt either!)

NaBloPoMo May 3rd: pillows versus blankets and some FUNNIES

Which would you rather have: a super-soft pillow or a warm, fuzzy blanket?

So, this is the prompt for today and is pretty easy to answer. I am hot natured so a warm, fuzzy blanket is pretty much a waste of time and effort. They look great, but never last long with me. A pillow though, now a good pillow is a friend for life!


Okay! Now that we have THAT out of the way, how about some Friday Funnies?!?!

And look out below!

Pete got fried!

Until then, keep your beak shut!!

You will only get this one if you are one of the cool kids ;-)

No joke....

true story

Also true :-(

Ha Ha!

Yes, this is me

Well, I hope you found something in that line up that tickles your funny bone! Now, let's get out there and make this Friday great!

Oh! Before I go I wanted to let you know about my new Amazon Seller page: Gently Used Books and Other Stuff  which is exactly what it sounds like. I am selling some used books and (eventually) some other stuff to raise money for more books!

NaBloPoMo May 2nd: More thoughts on sleep and Pooh Bears

Do you still sleep with a stuffed animal now?

No, I stopped sleeping with a stuffed animal around about the time I got married. :)

These days I sleep in a king size bed with a body pillow on either side of me, a cpap machine attached to my face, and a carpal tunnel wrist brace on each wrist. I think it's safe to say that there isn't much cuddling going on! Sleeping is serious business at my house, once I am in the bed with all my gear on I am not getting up (and unstrapping all that gear) unless the house is literally on fire.

Some days I really miss my Pooh Bear......being a grown up is tough....sigh...

 Hey, don't forget to click on over to Thursday Thankfulness to find out what I am thankful for this week! :)

NaBloPoMo May 1st: Pooh Bears and Blankets

Did you have a favorite stuffed animal or lovey as a child?  Tell us about it...

And that my friends is the prompt for the first day of NaBloPoMo for May 2013. This month's theme is comfort, a subject near and dear to my heart! After all, who isn't looking for some comfort in the world?

So, did I have a favorite stuffed animal or lovey as a child? Most definitely yes. I had both. I my lovey was actually 2 identical blankets with a cute little bunny village print on them. I had 2 because I had to have one with me at all times. This was vital to my well being and my parents sanity, so when one needed washing it was replaced with the other.

I don't actually remember the battle to break me from the blankets, but my mom tells me it was fierce and long. I do remember being severely traumatized at  about age 8 when I happened upon one of my old blanket friends stashed in the storage compartment of our horse trailer. Lord only knows what lead to my mom hiding it there! My little heart was so broken to find my old friend so neglected, but my mother (very wisely) did not let me take it in and wash it up. I am sure she realized that (even at the mature age of 8) the battle would begin anew if that blanket saw the inside of our home. So I had to say a final goodbye to my old comforter. It was a sad, sad day......

Mom may have won the war of the blanket, but she lost the war of the Pooh Bear. Of course, I am not sure she tried very hard to win that particular war. After all, Pooh was my bedtime comforter, I did not feel the need to take him everywhere with me. I'm not sure how old I was when my Mama Mac and Papa gave me my first Pooh Bear. Back in those days Sears was the only store you could buy a Winnie the Pooh bear from and Mama Mac worked for them, so I am sure she got a great discount! I slept with that old bear until I was 17. Really. And the only reason I let him go was because my other grandmother replaced him with a new one. That one I still have, along with many others. I collect stuffed animals now, all kinds (anything that makes me smile) but especially Winnie the Pooh. But my first Pooh Bear is lost to history. I wish I had kept him, just for the memories.

So, what about you? Did you have a favorite stuffed animal or lovey when you where a child? I would love to hear about them! :)

I am looking forward to this month's NaBloPoMo challenge. It's been a while since I have committed myself to writing everyday, I have gotten somewhat lazy! Time to get out of my comfort zone a bit (he-he) and explore the inner workings of what passes for a functional, relatively sane mind! Now, someone remind me of this moment in 25 days when I am just looking forward to the end of the month!! :)