Healthy Avocado-- Smoothies, salads, guacamole. Slice your ripe avocado in half in either direction, hit the pit with your knife and easily wiggle it out. I have been putting ripe avocados in the fridge with great success of staying perfect for over a week.
Friends all react the same, "You bake bacon? How?" Easy. Preheat the oven to 350. Take refrigerated bacon and put it in strips on a cookie sheet with a lip to catch the fat. If you like your bacon a little crispier, you may want to put it on a cooling rack over the cookie sheet. Wait about 20 minutes or until it is done to your liking. Little mess, no greasy oven to clean, and yummy bacon to eat.
You may want to see the movie ‘The Woman in Gold.’ The title refers to the famous painting by Gustav Klimt, portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. Actress Helen Mirren plays Maria Altmann, the niece of Adele. The movie takes us on the journey of the legal battle for the Nazi looted family painting. The painting can be found today in New York’s Neue Gallerie at 1048 5th Avenue.
Dame Mirren is currently playing the lead as Queen Elizabeth II in the ‘The Audience,’ showing at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, 234 West 45th Street. Watch the private weekly meeting of the Queen with her Prime Ministers, twelve total, in the last sixty years.
1. What if-I just didn’t care about the mess? I give too much energy to mess. Messy toys, messy crumbs, sticky messes. Messy dishes clean and not put away and dirty dishes not washed. Messy children’s rooms. What if I just didn’t worry about the mess. What is the worst thing that could happen?
A. More mice. Yes, but even when life is bleached and scrubbed clean, the mice still know how to sneak in. In the Fall we usually get four.
B. People will think I don’t take good care of my home, and family. I doubt it. If I am judged by those people, do I want to be friends with them? On the flip side-people judge if you are too clean-maybe you have that compulsive disorder thing? Have I ever judged a person by the lack of cleanliness of their home? Sometimes a lived in-messy house makes people feel comfortable. “Hey, cool, you’re not perfect either.” My dear father-in-law doesn’t have the cleanest house. It is very neat but he doesn’t care if we take our shoes off which is very nice actually. I make my family take their shoes off.
C. What if-I just cleaned up the next morning and didn’t get upset with everyone? How to do this and not let kids think they don’t need to be responsible for their stuff….another thing I have noticed about myself is: When I am busy with things outside of my orbit, the crumbs literally fall away. Helping homeless, raising money for earthquake victims, navigating a crowded room with a friend who is challenged by walking; it puts my silly problems in perspective.
2. What if-I didn’t overreact when someone asked me a question “wrong” or multiple children all asked me questions at the same time? What if I didn’t get upset when I answered my husband’s question but he didn’t bother to listen to the answer? What if I just went about my business in a happy way and I walked away instead. If he really wants to know the answer I am sure he will come and find me but why do I need to waste time being upset? What if I didn’t get upset when I asked someone a question and they didn’t bother to acknowledge it? Instead of thinking I am invisible what if I just chalk it up to the fact that they didn’t want to answer it, they didn’t hear it, or they just have zero people skills?
3. What if- I only gave myself one goal a day? Instead of always falling short of my to-do list I would be a winner almost every day! I would far exceed all expectations if other things were completed in addition to the one. realistic. goal.
4. What if-I truly gave it all to God? Just trusted more. Not worry so much about how the answer would come, what the next step was, if I was on the path he wants me to be on. How to solve the problem. What if I prayed about the problem, released it, and paid attention when answers were presented to me?
5. What if-I lived my life like it might be my last year? Really. How would you live your last year? If you knew 365 days from now, that was it, would you laugh more? Cook more with your kids? Give them more advice? Or just be quiet and express your love more? What friends would you not bother with because they just “can’t be bothered?” Would you run and push yourself physically? Or would you enjoy your food more and not worry so much if you gained a pound or two? Would you try to produce something? Would you get all your papers, material items, finances, pictures, and relationships in order? Spend more quality time with your spouse? Take a great family trip this year and not put it off? Invite those friends over for dinner you always think about but never quite get it together to have them over? If I only had one year, really, I would probably eat a lot and have a lot of parties. Maybe we should look at each year as a review with a boss. Do I get to continue for another year? Should I be fired as a wife? Mother? Friend? Employee? Or should I stop and celebrate success and think for a minute about all of the things I DO do very well?
Nothing is promised to us. Each year is a gift. What will be your presence? Will it be of peace?
When I first met Peter Campbell about five years ago, he was cutting a pizza and asking us to try it. My children and I came late to the sledding party, but in fact we came at the exact right time. The pizza we sampled is now the namesake of a dream in the making: "Red Wagon Pizza" located at 5416 Penn Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN.
After my previously mentioned favorite pizza which is composed of "house cheese blend over red sauce, topped with crispy sopressata ribbons, banana peppers, house made sausage and finished with chili flakes and fig balsamic," my next recommendation is the "Long Horn." Talk about creative: Braised beef cheeks on a bed of creamy garlic mashed potatoes topped with pecorino cheese, crispy shoe string potatoes and finished with house made steak sauce.
Peter & Jacquie Campbell have been a favorite feature at the Linden Hills Farmers Market with their wood-fire oven pizza truck which just fueled the fire for the restaurant. In addition to pizza, skillets, salad and desserts, they boast a line-up of 36 craft beers on tap and 20 different wine choices by the glass. Open daily 11am-midnight. Call for takeout: 612.259.7147. Family friendly.
Be what we want to manifest, right? There are so many famous variations of that statement. Gandhi: Be the change you want to see in the world. I think the world can always use more kindness. What if we all challenged ourselves to plan an act of kindness each week? Once a week sounds easy, maybe even ridiculously easy. I have a coach who always says “set yourself up for success” so that is why I suggest once a week. Not too much pressure. Some planned acts of kindness might be a bit bigger-thinking about how much you can financially donate to a worthy charity that speaks to you. Other acts might be easier, “I will be buying the car behind me a coffee at the Starbucks drive-thru." Some idea’s will take a little more planning-coordinate with all your family members a night you can all volunteer together at a homeless shelter. But don’t think everything needs to be planned. The true goal of knowing your heart is in the right place is when something presents itself and you make the right decision. At the risk of this:
Matthew 6:1
Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
I will share that our family recently did as it may inspire. It required about four emails to make sure our five year old could be a part of the evening, find out our responsibilities, and logistics. It required internal family emails, reminding, explaining and getting everyone on board. And then the magic happened. It was finally the night. We went to a church in Minneapolis to serve dinner to people who needed a meal. We received an orientation about the kitchen, some rules and were told what we needed to do to get dinner ready. We helped set the tables and decided that our family of six would do the beverages and desserts so we could all be together. We handed out the cookies and my husband scooped the ice cream and we made sure everyone had water and milk. Other adult volunteers served the meatball, potato and gravy dinner, the exact menu we were planning for our Christmas dinner. We cleared and washed tables. We were able to go table to table and offer people the extra cookies and told them to take a bunch to have for later. Everyone was kind. They were grateful to us. All we did was serve them for a few hours and we went back to our warm home. Most of the people who ate dinner there that night did not have a permanent home. We have packed food at Feed my Starving Children which is a wonderful organization but there was something…about looking into the eyes of the people we were honored to serve that gave the night deep meaning. And the very best part is-all my kids asked as we were leaving was when we could do it again. Give presence to the world you want to create. (Random Acts of Kindness week is February 9-15, 2015)
Ezekiel 16:49
This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.
A friend of mine has a pact with one of her college buddies-if one of them falls into a coma and is lying in a hospital bed, the other one will come running secretly with tweezers. She will take care of business. This is what friends do. She mentioned another friend has the same type of pact with a trusted friend but it involves a uni-brow.
This all seemed very funny until last week, when my college roommate fell down right on her face at 10 pm. A blood clot hit her brain and caused a massive stroke. After being on blood thinners for a night, the swelling of the brain was still so great that surgery was performed to remove a piece of her skull and relieve the pressure. That piece of skull now resides safely in her abdomen where it will stay healthy until it can be placed back in its rightful place.
She has a great network of friends and family who are watching out for her (no tweezers needed) She is 47 years old.
The initial shock is finally wearing off and I have stopped crying every day. This Sunday, church was doing its best to get me to cry. Typical of when you are actually paying attention to life it speaks loud and clear to you. The Bible verse for the day was Matthew 25:13. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the hour or the day.”
When I awake, I feel heavy and then I remember why. My friend’s life is desperately altered and we don’t know what her future looks like. If I look deeper though, it isn’t only because I am so worried about my dear friend. I am also thinking-if this happened to me, would I have the level of support I need? What girlfriends would fight for me, everyday? Do I have someone who would question the Doctors? Post CaringBridge updates? Make sure I didn’t have too many visitors? Who would help mother my children and be their role model? Who could provide the emotional support needed from a friend--which is different from a spouse who would be so emotionally drained? Am I at peace with all of my relationships? Is there anything I need to do so I would have no regrets? Do I have someone who would run over secretly with the tweezers?
Brothers in the Hood, or rather "hoodie."
I have two sons.
Should either one wear a hoodie?
