June 23, 2023

Well. It had to happen, and so it did. My hip is, according to one doctor, "trashed," and to the surgeon, "really, really bad." 

So surgery has been set up. Coincidentally, on a date which is important to me and which will be easy to remember. And, it's about 3 weeks away, which doesn't give me a lot of time to freak out. 

Unfortunately, I was so shocked at the xrays that I didn't snap a picture. Let's put it this way: First of all, it's been TWO years, not one, which I thought. And second, I went, in TWO years, from "ok, but arthritic," to "the head of your femur is destroyed." I couldn't tell where the socket ended and the femur began. In a way, it's nice confirmation that it is indeed as bad as it feels. But in another way, it's freaking shocking. 

"Do you have any questions?" said the doctor. Yeah. How soon can I get this done! They did say they'd "expedite" it, but you never know. Lo and behold, I was asked which hospital I wanted, and they gave me the date. 

They needed more x-rays, including one standing up, which wasn't pretty. That being said, when the techs had to help me swing my left leg back over the table to get down, it went into quite the "snap, crackle, pop, and lock" routine. They were so sympathetic, but it wasn't exactly painful - it was more noisy and uncomfortable. It's when I have to walk or stand where it kills me. 

I'm chuffed, because it's been horrible. But I'm also scared. But I'm also looking forward to getting my life back. 

I've been using a TENS unit on my knee. Yeah, the hip is shot, but you know the old "knee bone connected to the hip bone" jingle. My knee took the brunt of being unable to bear weight, so the TENS unit has been helping me keep the pain within range. 

One of the gals at work gave me a walker, which you'd think was a great idea. It is, and it isn't. I tend to baby the left leg more with a walker, and I need to make sure that I'm not making it worse. And I do need to bring the walker to the hospital for therapy/rehab, but from what I understand, they'll want to get a patient off all assistive aids as soon as possible. The doctor said that I would not feel the arthritic pain, but since my leg has lost a lot of muscle tone, the new joint is going to want to move, but the muscles will be out of whack. That sounds like fun. 

The Knitting...

I'm on the foot of the second sock. I've just been working away at this, figuring that I'd have my "hip replacement socks" done. Then I can move on. 

I have a kit of a baby sweater that I want to do; I've had it in stash for a few years; the original recipient is now 12 years old. But I have a Little Bug to knit for again, so if I can get my act together, this sweater will be out of stash and ON A BABY! It's a beautiful dusty rose boucle yarn. I don't think the kit includes buttons, but I can get those. That's the least of my worries. I think the kit has a button band, which is a first for me. Lucky, the Little Bug is still...little. 

Except for a few blips, which seem to be in every thing I knit, this sock is definitely going smoother than the last one. Of course, the last one sat for 10 years wayyyyyyyyyyyy too long and my brain was mushy from baby knitting. No excuse, but it was like I had completely forgotten how to knit a sock. 

I believe I can finish this one by the date of surgery. I'm not teaching, having subbed all my classes. So my evenings are free...

I have to get myself back on the Long Sands Tee, otherwise that will sit for another 10 years wayyyyy too long. And I do want to wear that sometime this year. 

I also bought another shawl pattern because I do have a few single skeins of sock yarn in the stash which I really don't want to use for socks. I bought them specifically for a shawl or shawlette. 

As far as I know, there are no more babies in the pipeline, so I can now concentrate on some of the projects that I had had to set aside due to said baby knitting. Not that I mind it - I love knitting for babies, and I really do want to do a "Baby Surprise Jacket" just to do it. You can always stash one of those, right? And I'd like to learn the EZ method without having to be on a baby deadline. 

The Postcards...

The squeaky wheel ministry continues. I wrote a batch to the Supreme Court with that perfect quote from Thomas Paine: "A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody." I asked some if they would get the heat put under other justices to actually effect meaningful ethics reform, and I asked the other ones if they wanted their legacies to be as unethical losers... You can guess which is which. 

I've also been working on postcards to the various committees and generally to legislators letting them know how I feel. 

The postcards were from an online printer, and so the investment was relatively small. It's an easy way to make an impact and a point. Not sure who's listening, but I'm contacting them and making myself a pest, so there's that. 

You can write to compliment. You can write to complain. It's an easy way to get your voice heard. 

Random Picture...

Now you know I'm not any kind of "influencer," and I don't get any compensation fromanyone for anything, but I do have to rave about a new product I found. It's called "Tablespoon Chai" from The Republic of Tea. It's so super easy, it's spicy, and not too sweet. I just love it. 

I tried to make my own blend, and I really couldn't get the hang of it. There are some great recipes, but for some reason, they never tasted right.

I was dedicated to Tazo's brand, till it got to be too sweet for my taste. This isn't. There's a nice after-bite that I appreciate. 

If you are so inclined, try it! I find chai a nice alternative to the matcha I usually drink, and I make mine with oat milk. Hot or iced, it's really delicious. It's black tea, so unless you're related to Hubby, this is a morning-to-early-afternoon drink. Anytime, for me, after 3 p.m., and I'm counting sheep. And counting sheep. And counting sheep.... 

Pregnancy Begins With a Penis...

 ...so perhaps THAT should be regulated by the "party of small government." (See what I did there??) My postcard campaign continues, and honestly, I don't know whether to smack Lindsey Graham upside his entirely EMPTY head, or... THANK him for galvanizing women young and old. Because he's such a chuckle-headed nitwit. Great move, dude...national abortion ban? Great strategy. 

Pink Tsunami, here we come. Duck & cover, Lindsey. You own this one. 

The party of small government wants to get into my uterus (even though my child-bearing ship has sailed a while ago), but perhaps they ought to look at the teeny-tiny penises. They're all so busy bloviating and thinking that they've got the biggest one in the room. 

Got news for you, boys. (And girls, where IS your common sense?) The uterus brought you into this world. Women voters will take you out. 

And while I'm at it, let's talk about student loans. I have a disclosure to make: I have never had a student loan. I had a grant. Hubby had loans, but the interest rate was 1-2% - whereas now, they're the equivalent of a mortgage. My kid doesn't have student loans, but friends do. People I know have declared bankruptcy because the loans are basically usurious... Seriously, do some math and understand DAILY COMPOUNDING OF INTEREST. 

Have you ever seen a closing statement for a mortgage? Or a car loan? I have. You buy a car for $30,000 and after you tack on interest, your loan paper says you're paying upwards of $60,000 for that car over the life of the loan. And that's calculated on SIMPLE interest. The interest is figured in with your payment, and is amortized through the life of the loan. 

But with student loans, interest is compounded DAILY. Daily compounded interest means interest is accumulated daily and is calculated by charging interest on principal plus interest earned daily; therefore, it is higher than interest compounded on a monthly/quarterly basis due to the high frequency of compounding. So think about this, because the math looks "small" but if you consider that the rate is DAILY, you can see how this is just...insane. 

You first take the annual interest rate on your loan and divide it by 365 to determine the amount of interest that accrues on a daily basis. Say you owe $10,000 on a loan with 5% annual interest. You'd divide that rate by 365 (i.e., 0.05 ÷ 365) to arrive at a daily interest rate of 0.000137. That daily interest rate looks pretty tiny, doesn't it? Well, it's different from your car loan, which is calculated MONTHLY - every 30 days. This student loan interest is calculated DAILY, so you can see how that would add up. 

Anyway... Look at the postcard above. Good old Marge Greene got $180,000 in PPP loans FORGIVEN. And she's screeching like a stuck pig about $10,000 in student loan forgiveness. A bunch of  'em got HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in PPP loans FORGIVEN. But hey, why would you want to give someone a hand up, when you can kick 'em while they're down? Is that the new "christian way"? Seems so. 

I've gotta sit with DeathSentence and The Texas Idiot for awhile before I talk about the racist, abhorrent, disgusting, dangerous thing they've done. All I can say is that I hope that the backlash from this is like a herd of elephants, butt sides facing an industrial fan on high speed, with said elephants having the runs. Simultaneously. 

Hip, hip hooray...

So my mom's total hip replacement has occurred. She's home, after an overnight in the hospital. I'm very glad she stayed. 

We got her to the hospital at 6 a.m. and the surgery was scheduled for 7:30. I stayed, with my hospital knitting (see the sock). And I had a fully-charged Kindle, and they had HGTV playing in the waiting room. And I could people-watch - which was weird. 

Because about 60% of the people IN THE HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM couldn't quite figure out, nearly 3 years into this, that a MASK GOES OVER THE NOSE, TOO. Seriously, people. The signs (with pictures) are all over the place. 

Anyhow, as I was waiting. And waiting. And waiting, I noticed that there were a lot of codes being called, but I was ok because none of them were "code blue," so I wasn't too concerned. But the time came and went for her to have been done, and I was still sitting there. Then, the manager was coming around asking for various families...turns out that somehow, the hospital was full. As in "no room in the inn" full - no rooms available. So if you lived close, they suggested that you go home. Anyway - I got to see her for a few minutes in the recovery room. She cracked an eye open, said, "I've been hit by a bus," and fell back asleep. That was my cue to go home. 

I got home and took a nap; then they called me around 4:30 p.m. and she'd finally gotten a room. I'm so glad I wasn't stuck there all day. I wasn't doing any good; just taking up space. 

Her neighbor is helping her out, we have the food lined up, and all systems are go. She hates the compression socks. "If they come up any higher, I might actually have a perky bustline." Yep, no filter... 

Now it's time to focus on fixing MY hip. Doctor's appointment on Monday to figure it out. 

The Garden...

I was poking around the back pot of parsley and found...caterpillars! I usually do flat-leaf parsley in the front yard for them, but somehow, they made their way to the back (curly-leaf) and have taken up residence. Started out with 5 of them, and I'm down to 2...so I hope that 3 of them have gone on to be chrysalis-to-butterfly, and not bird food. It should be safer back there, because the birdfeeders are all up front. 

These are Swallowtail butterflies in the making. My milkweed never even bloomed. So Hubby tells me he prefers the taste of the flat-leaf parsley, but I warned him to still be careful about the caterpillars. They blend in so well that they take you by surprise!

The birds have been enjoying the seeds from the coneflowers and the Brown-eyed Susans, and the hummingbird feeders were reorganized. I pitched the ones that weren't working or were ignored. Usually, it was because hornets and bees could get to them, or -- my favorite one finally broke down beyond repair and I couldn't find a replacement. So I have three that they seem to like and we're sticking with them. 

And at work, my wild flowers in pots have done well, considering that they're somewhat neglected. I bought a bubbler. We have a "flower pot drain bowl" that we've been using as a bird bath, and I added a bubbler to it so as to cut down on mosquito eggs. The birds seem to enjoy it.

When the office door is open, the sound of the bubbler is quite soothing. And of course, Flat St. John had to pose to show himself off in this "water feature." 

We have nasturtium, salvia, begonia and windflowers, so it's a nice assortment, as I said - considering that I've virtually ignored the whole thing all year. It's been busy...

We're planning The Great Tomato Sauce Canning for the first weekend in October. I'm considering something that I've seen another friend do: roasting the veggies and then puree them in my Vita Mix. Or I'll do it the way I always do: in a huge stock pot, simmering for hours. We'll see. I think it's about the same amount of time, maybe less doing it via the roasting method. It might be worth it to do 2 batches, one in each method, to see how it goes. 

Welcome...

To the new Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, Paula Clark... The first woman, and woman of color, to be a bishop in this diocese. She's had a long, hard road since her election and we waited for nearly 2 years to have her consecration ceremony. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry was heading the service. 

Her vestments, hand-made, honored her membership in the International Order of the Daughters of the King, and the ceremony was planned specifically by her.  

Hubby and I were going to join the choir, but after looking at Covid numbers, looking at my own risk factors, and the fact that my mom just got out of the hospital and we're her primary humans...we decided, reluctantly, to withdraw. Which is a shame, because the music was pretty awesome. 

You may recognize Bishop Curry from his preaching at Harry & Megan's wedding. He's pretty dynamic, to say the least. 

Bishop Paula wore some awesome red kicks! And some purists objected to the tennis shoes. OK, let's break this down... About 18 months ago, she had a traumatic brain injury, brain surgery, a long and difficult recovery, and then her husband died. She's got some lingering mobility issues. She's lucky to be alive, through much prayer and dint of hard work on her part...What did you expect? Manolo Blahniks??? Get real. Comfort and ability to walk and stand -- that's important. She's not here to make a fashion statement and those folks who object to this? They can kiss the north end of a south-bound horse. Or my pasty white rear end. Whichever...

Random Picture...

This is Quinn, getting a Saturday Skritch. She turns into "oozy dog" and just melts. she loves her belly rubs, for sure. She's healing up very nicely from the nasty cysts she's had lately. 

She turns 12 soon. She's really getting older, and I can see subtle signs, such as a little less spring in her legs when she gets up on the couch, and sometimes a bit of deeper sleep where she startles. And her tail is not curling - that's kind of a classic Norwegian Elkhound "old dog" phase, when their tail stops curling over their rump. 

Shyness has never been her problem. When she's in "flathound" mode, she's totally relaxed. 

Looking for yoga and there's no studio nearby? We have Zoom classes!

In the area? We have THREE new classes, including Prenatal on Saturday afternoon, an additional chair class on Saturday morning, and Yoga with Gratitude & Grace on Wednesday nights. 

Check our website at www.just-breatheyoga.com or 

text/call us at (815) 546-2770 if you have questions about which class is the best one for you. We are a safe, inclusive space - and welcome you as you are. 

It's Been a Long, Strange Trip...

 Seriously, I started to write this in JUNE. And then I hit a wall. The wall consisted of a lot of things. Boss Lady's retirement and the attendant stuff, things happening in the family, delayed grief from my sister's death, busy-ness from a training I was in the midst of...a lot of things. 

But mostly I felt like there was a hole in my soul. Even with the monumental stuff going on in the world, I was just...numb. When Katanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice, I was excited. And numb. I didn't have words. 

When Roe was overturned, again: stunned. And numb. 

When Beto O'Rourke called out a protester, same thing. "About time" and...numb.

When TFG got that search warrant served on him...you'd think THAT might break through the fog, but it hasn't, really. 

I just feel bad that I haven't written and it's like I fell of the face of the earth. 

The Postcards...

So I've been venting some spleen with postcards. Actually, my studio is going to be a gathering place for folks writing postcards to voters for a particular candidate. I believe in the power of the postcard. 

We do so many emails, so many texts, so many phone calls...a postcard is something different. My friend "A" latched onto this, and I ended up sending a bunch. To the SCOTUS and to the idiots who don't support sensible gun legislation. And as thank-you notes to those who are actually legislating. Doing the job we elected them for. And reminding those who're slacking off. 

I'm absolutely not sure if it does anything but it makes me feel like it's SOMETHING. Especially in these times when we all feel so out of control on the whole ball of ugly that's happening in this country. 

I enjoy reminding Uncle Clarence that, while he's dumping "precedent," he'd best be careful: At one point in history, he would've been 3/5 of a person; he couldn't vote; and he and Ginni couldn't marry. Loving v. VA was only decided, after all, in 1967... 

I got my postcards from VistaPrint, but you could get them from anywhere - maybe you even have a stash of postcards that you picked up on your travels. You know nobody wants them, and if you're decluttering, why not use them? At least you'll be making your point. It's pretty therapeutic. 

The Knitting...

Well, there's some progress. I had to add another ball of yarn. And then the age-old question: "How do I do this so that it doesn't look clunky?" It's honestly easier to do when you're knitting with an appropriate-sized needle. Like, if I'm knitting socks, I'm using a size 1 or 2 needle, and the fabric is pretty stable. But with the Long Sands Tee, I'm knitting a linen yarn with slightly bigger needles, to make that "lacy" fabric, so I could do a couple of things:

I could knit double for a few stitches. I could end at a side seam so that I could just knit 1 or 2 stitches and "bury" the new join in the side. Or I could do a variation on a spit join. 

For the uninitiated, the spit join is usually used (in my experience, at least) when you want to join two balls of wool. Like, straight wool, not superwash, not mixed with any other fiber. The reason is, you take Yarn A and "unwind" about 1-2" of it, and do the same for Yarn B. Then, you spit in one hand, lay the yarns with the unwound ends overlapping, and rub your hands together to build some heat and "felt" the yarns together. It's remarkably strong. 

But with linen, it doesn't felt. So the variation I found was to unwind part of the end of Ball A and the same amount on Ball B. And braid them together. 

I went to The Google and looked for "ways to join yarn," and found this. The demo was on a worsted weight, so they used a paper clamp to secure the end. Of course, as you can see, all I needed was a paper CLIP... 

The only thing I don't like is that, because I'm using the larger needles to get the drape in the fabric, I can see where this is at. And of course, it's the front, toward the center. 

As a new skill, it's cool. But as an actual way of construction for my garment, I really wish I would have done it on the seam. I'll get a picture of it, and show it next time. 

The project is coming along nicely. It'll get set aside in September. My mom is (finally) having her hip replaced, and I'm "it." I will be taking her to the hospital, and I'm hoping she stays overnight to be observed. She's well into her 80s and honestly, if something happens, I'm skilled enough to dial 911. And that's about it. She should stay overnight, and I thought I had her convinced. But she's waffling. Don't get me wrong, all her marbles are there. But she thinks she's MY age...and she's not. There are benefits to her staying in the hospital overnight, including the fact that the elderly don't come out of anaesthesia easily. If she were to try to get up, and I wasn't right there, there would be a problem. If she was in the hospital, there would probably be an alarm and someone (or several nurses) would be able to deal with it so she wouldn't hurt herself. 

So my "surgery knitting" will be socks. The Kindle will be charged. It takes about 2 hours for the surgery, so I'll probably stay put. It's easier. This is where I miss my sister. She was "the person" for this stuff. I can take care of the other stuff, but medical things are out of my area. 

I Did a Thing...

I got an email from Amazon saying that, basically, my Kindle (3rd gen) would no longer be able to download books. Well, that kinda sucks. I didn't update it; no need to. It was working just fine. But what's a Kindle if you can't get books, right? 

You can see (a) the difference in size - the old one is on the right, and the new one is on the left; and (b) the difference in the brightness. The new one is much cleaner, and you can make the light more "warm" as you read in the evening, to cut down on the blue light. 

I was given a Fire (Gen 8), which is cool. I have a lovely case for it, and I have TWO games loaded: 2 versions of Solitaire. Yeah. Big gamer, that's me...

In that Amazon email there were two coupons, and I figured, "let's see how this works." I got the grand sum of FIVE BUCKS for my old Kindle, but with both coupons (and a $40 e-book credit!), I got a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition for a grand total of $90. Which, Hubby says, was LESS than he paid for my Kindle Gen 3 lo those many years ago. Happy day!! I'm just getting used to the lack of a keyboard, and learning where things are. 

I loaded my $40 worth of books - it wasn't as many as you'd think, but I got some good ones. I don't necessarily like the way they organize them. My old one, I could dump "read" books into a file. This one, they have "read" across the book, but with the transfer of my books from the Kindle Gen 3, some of the "read" were transferred as "un-read." 

I also got a nice cover, Van Gogh's "Starry Night." I'd have loved a TARDIS one, and I may still look for that! I'll say that it fits in my purse better. And it has increased my reading time. I have a lot on my TBR (To Be Read) list, so putting a slight dent in that pile. 

The benefit of the Kindle as opposed to the Fire is the longer charge on the Kindle. But it's a piffle; both are nice. I can use books from either when I read them to my yoga class on Sunday nights. It takes up less room. And my bookshelves are already overflowing. 

So I'm happy with my 2 new "toys." I would like to do another game, but I can't decide what to do. I've looked at the word games (I do love Scrabble), but nothing has made me say, "Yeah, I can do that without it driving me nuts." And unfortunately, the Fire comes with ads. Which is incredibly annoying. 

I Did Another Thing...

My hair needed to be re-touched. Yes, I love my silver, but I'm not opposed to playing with a little Rose Gold every so often to shuzh it up a bit more. My stylist, a young woman, said to me recently, "How do you feel about rose gold + violet?" I figured the worst that could happen is that I didn't like it. 

I love it. I've gotten so many great compliments on it. I wasn't going to do it for the summer, because I thought I'd be able to go to the barn more. Well, they changed their parameters, and my hip was acting up (see below), and so I figured I'd give it a try. 

It's quite obvious in the sunshine. And I think it looks spectacular! Is it vanity? Yeah. But it's a little vanity. 

Yeah, my hip is aggravated. I had one cortisone shot that lasted about 3 months, maybe 4. I was disappointed, but the doctor seemed to think that was a good result. I guess all in all it was, considering that your hips never rest. You're either holding them in place sitting or they're supporting you even lying down and standing. 

So I had a second cortisone shot and it hurt like a bugger. Doc really hit The Spot there, and Hubby said that I levitated "about 3 feet off the table." It's been bothering me more, and that's my basic objection to cortisone shots: I tend to do stupid stuff because it doesn't hurt. It makes me feel like it was before I hurt myself. Or it hurts because I've been stuck at the computer too long. Or I slept funny. Or I stood up too long. It's a no-win situation. I'm looking at an experimental treatment, because they don't replace hips for a torn labrum. Thankfully. One of us in the family with a titanium hip is enough!

And I Did a FINAL Thing...

I finally finished (after 1 revision) my 500-hour teacher training thesis. I haven't heard back from this revision, but I'm hoping they like this version and I can check this one off my list. In the meantime, I completed an 85-hour Prenatal Yoga training, which I've wanted to do since 2014...At last it's done. 

In the meantime, I started a 20-hour prenatal training, and I'm going to finish that, mainly so I can get sequence ideas. It's always nice to get some inspiration. 

I've done the community (free) prenatal class and I have a student body of...one. The other one was 30+ weeks along, so she's near to term and probably not coming back. I'm hoping to get a community going, and I know it'll take some work, but it will be worth it. 

I also hired a teacher who's a triple-threat, sort of. She's a student of mine who did her training during Covid, and she's certified as an ASL interpreter, and is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, so while her training was from a studio with a Christian bent, she is well-versed, and can do some nice classes. She also can appeal to the other population segments. 

We're also working with a local group to do trauma-informed yoga with sexual assault clients. Things are moving in a positive direction, and we're hoping to continue to grow. 

Random Picture...

Frog legs. Or "sploot." Whichever. We were at my mom's house and Buddy decided that he was going to relax. I can't resist frog legs. Or sploot, or whatever you want to call them. 

Quinn usually does frog legs, and Tippi used to. I haven't seen Raisa do them - but she has her own quirks. 

I appreciate when a dog can relax around me; frankly, it usually happens because I'm a dog person. Honestly, it also usually happens with cats. I guess I just have the "thing" that allows them to let themselves hang loose and mostly ignore me!

I will write about all the Big Important Things that have been happening. Just not right now. It's enough that I figured I'd land here and spend some time with you all. Thanks for being here. 

Not Word Salad...

I promised you a recipe... The other day, after having to scrounge for lunch for the 3rd or 4th day in a row (I just need to do a grocery run and plan better), I decided to make a Dump Salad. This was a recipe that I adapted from my Vegan Kid. 

DUMP SALAD

1 cup Wild Rice

3 cups water

1 Knorr Vegetarian Cube

1 (8 oz) container mixed mushrooms (can omit or use your favorite)

1 T. avocado or other neutral oil

1 c. frozen corn

1 can beans, drained (your favorite: garbanzo, kidney, black)

3 radishes, sliced thin

2 carrots, cut into 1/4" slices (If they're thick, cut in half first)

2 celery sticks, diced

6 spring onions, sliced - both green & white parts

1 navel orange, peeled and cut into portions (see directions)

1 bottle Farm + Field Basil Vinaigrette (oryour favorite recipe/bottle)

Put the water in a saucepan, add the Knorr cube and the wild rice. Bring to a boil, turn to a "strong simmer" and cover with a lid. Cook for 40 minutes.  In last 5 minutes, add the frozen corn to the rice and put the lid back on. When time is up, drain if there's still water left (I check after 20 minutes, just to see what's going on). 

In a saute pan, add the oil, heat to high. Add mushrooms (cleaned by removing root ends, chop if they're big mushrooms). Saute till cooked through, set aside. Add more oil if needed, sautee carrots and celery for about 5 mintues on medium-high. Then add the white part of the onion, and the sliced radishes. Cook for about 3 min. more, don't let them get too brown. Drain and set aside. 

When the rice + corn is done, dump it into a large bowl (I use a covered bowl so I mix & store in the same container). Add the mushrooms, beans, green part of the onion. Add about 1/3 of the bottle of the vinaigrette and stir together. Season with salt & pepper if desired, and you can add more vinaigrette. I tend to like mine a little on the "dry" side, but you do you. 

Pull the orange apart into sections and cut each section into 3 pieces; add, along with any juice off the cutting board, to the rice mixture. Chill or eat at room temperature. 

THIS CAN BE AS-IS. Or if you want more protein, add some chicken, chicken sausage, or low-fat kielbasa. 

This serves 6 people as a side salad or 4 people as a main dish salad. 

I love this because you can add whatever you have: broccoli, green beans, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, you get the idea. 

The Knitting...

Porch knitting tonight! I've figured out (with the help of the FB Shawl Knitting group) the one instruction that I was definitely over-thinking. I ran it past Hubby and we were both thinking along the same lines. I could've asked my knitting friend, but she's out of town, so there's that. 

I thought I'd get out there while it was nice, shady and before the pyromaniacs get started. It has been (dare I even jinx it??) quiet here for Memorial Day. 

I'm literally zipping along with this. Which means I may be wearing it by Fall, but hey - at least it'll be done, right? 

Next up will probably be a singleton sock that has the mate already done; I have to dig them out. And the Copland shawl, which is a WIP that I'm looking forward to finishing as a gift, hopefully for Christmas, but that could be a stretch. We'll have to see on that one. 

Postcard Project...

I'm back with the postcards again... Is it "doing something"? Who knows? It's something that's being done, that's for sure. I can't march, and I don't have the money to influence politicians, so I do what I can do. 

My friend came up with a pretty brilliant idea - she gathered up all the postcards she got from her own travels and those that people gave her from theirs. I have a bunch of them, and they mean nothing to anyone else. I may as well put them to good use. So she addressed them and shared them with us. I find it ironic that a few of them were buildings that meant a lot: for example, a picture of the historic Supreme Court building for Mitch McConnell and the stained glass for Ted Cruz. 

I wrote what I wanted them to do to curb gun violence. (Well, their JOB would be a start) And then I wrote a small prayer asking God to grant them the courage to DO their job. 

Hey, they're all professing to be Christians, right? So prayer shouldn't bother them. And I don't care if they ARE bothered. 

Random Picture... 

This is the garden as of today. It's been super windy (it's been like that since January...I'd swear my sister was coming back to try to tell me something...) and the middle cover is a bit twisted. 

Soon, we'll be putting on the tomato cages, and the racks for the bush cucumbers. I know - bush means not climbing, but so far, every time I've planted them (this will be my 4th go-round with them), I've needed to give them something to climb on. 

One of our tomato plants (in the far left bed) already has blossoms on it, so we should see something nice soon. 

Gardening is nature's prozac. If you have the space for even a couple pots on the patio, try it. You'll feel good getting your hands dirty and you'll have flowers or veggies. Win/win!