Week end warm weather...

Jacques kitty and us are having a weekend with teenage girls.
Need I say more?

The weather was soooo fantastic this afternoon!


We went to the book store and this is what I picked up: "Ada Blackjack" By Jennifer Niven. It is about an Inuit woman from the early 1900's and her story of adventure. How I LOVE Arctic adventures!! Especially ones about women...don't know why. To have been able to do some of the things that these strong souls have done is my wish.

Condo living...

Here is a picture of the condo we are living in until July. The picture is a little blurry but you can get a sense of it. It is small but comfy...and we are blessed to be here.

my first home made cup of...

chai tea. And it tastes fantastic! This is what I did:

All our small sauce pans are still packed away in the garage so I used a stainless steel bowel on the stove. I added 2 cups of water to the bowel. Once the water started getting hot I added some crushed cardamon seeds and crushed fennel seeds. Let the water come to a boil and then added one (opened bag) tea bag of chia spice tea. Then turn the water off cover the bowel and let steep for about 5 minutes. While it is steeping warm up about 1/4 cup of coconut milk with a sweetener to the desired sweetness. I finely grated some nutmeg into the coconut milk also . I used Xylitol for my sweetener but you may use sugar, honey or any other sweetener you perfer.

Put half of the warm milk into a cup and using a strainer pour half the tea into cup too. Stir good and garnish with a few strands of saffron!!!

Oh my living God! This tastes so good!

You can get 2 delicious cups out of this recipe.

I have had this saffron (the most expensive spice in the world) for a few months now. Having received it from my sister who married into an Arabic family and lived overseas for a few years. It is my GOLD! I've only used it a couple of other times with rice dishes. I always feel like Royalty whenever I cook with it or even look at it in the bottle. There is not much left. And the bottle was only filled about 1/2 inch when I received it.

January...

is almost over. And with it (I am hoping) so is most of the winter weather.

On Friday we went to the Goodwill and loaded up on turtlenecks and sweaters. I found a London Fog winter coat with real fox fir trim around the hood for only $15.00! And it fits perfect and is in perfect condition. A couple of jeans also...and all for the same price that a pair of Levi's and a nice sweater would cost at a Kohl's store.

We ate at a Chinese restaurant in another town and I had the snow pea and chicken. The chicken was the worst thing. It didn't even have the texture of chicken and I am still wondering what kind of meat it was. I didn't eat it.

For the past couple of years we have been eating mostly REAL FOOD. And I have been making most all of it from scratch. So whenever we eat somewhere else and they are using additives and preservatives in the food...we can both tell the difference. And it just doesn't taste good or fresh. You can taste the chemicals in the food. It is like eating fake food. Yes, I have become finicky about my food.

I read labels and if the ingredients list anything that is not a real food, most of the time I will pass on it. And we don't really spend a lot of money on food for the 2 of us. About $50.00 per week...unless we splurge on something special like salmon or a special cut of meat.

For the last couple of years I have been experimenting with my diet. And have been almost exclusively vegan for the past 1 1/2 years. But my energy level was extremely low, I was loosing the thickness in my hair and I was tired all the time. (not to mention the moodiness). So I have been back to eating dairy (only yogurt) and eating small amounts of fish and poultry. This seems to work in getting my energy level back where it should be and my hair is not coming out in my comb like it was.

I walked Mattie this morning and it is COLD outside. The high today is supposed to get into the teens! Wooohoo!

Tax time is nearing and so all the paperwork needs to get organized. That is my goal for the day.

Another goal for this week is making some home-made chi tea. There are lots of great blogs out there with wonderful recipes. You use milk in it. So I will substitute it with rice milk or maybe even coconut milk. Experiment time!

Cheers!

Oh sunny day...

and the temperature is in the 30's!! So I got the jeep washed and went to get some files to organize all the 2008 tax records and receipts.

Do you see the bird nest in the bramble?

Milkweed in winter.
The bench along the park trail is piled high with snow.


This is carnage on the walking path. Maybe it was a hawk or fox that left his mark. One of fur and one of feathers.

yes...

I cried...tears of joy while watching President Obama being sworn into office this afternoon! How could you not? How fortunate am I to have been able to watch the entire Inauguration on TV. And how fortunate we are as a country to have such a brave leader. We are at this time blessed. For some strange reason there is a feeling of camaraderie in the air...is it just me? Or has our new President stirred in each of us who believe in him, a sense of renewed purpose in life? And a new sense of urgency to be better human beings. The hard work has begun!

This morning he has a little cold.

He had some tea with honey and cough medicine.

We saw this yesterday.

On the highway there were about 5 vehicles in the ditches and this semi with pickup wedged under it. It was horrifying to see...

Also yesterday we took the little one ice skating for his first time. It was Richies first time too!

This

little boy...

is coming to visit today. And staying until Monday when I will be taking him back home. I am VERY excited!

The temperature outside is -23 degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday neither one of Rich's trucks would start until later in the day after he kept trying and trying. So he is hanging here awhile before he even starts out.

If I keep up with the quilting it should be finished by the end of February.

Still working on the monkey quilt. It is going slow because of the layers of thick material. I used some mattress ticking which is thick. And for the backing I used Toile fabric. Which is a French inspired fabric design. The fabric I used is heavy like a lightweight canvas. And seems to be coated with a scotch guard or something that makes it somewhat stiff. That is the reason I've already broke a quilting needle and have a bruise on my quilting finger!

One of my favorite artists, Andrew Wythe died today. This is one of his paintings. He hid these paintings of this woman for years. Not even telling his wife about them until he wanted to sell them in the 1980's. He then sold the "Helga" paintings to a Japanese business man for 50-60 million.

up early...

today. I have a job to do and need to be to work by 9:30.

Richie just left to do snow removal. He has someone helping him today.

Listening to "Speaking of Faith" podcast. This one is about yoga with Seane Corn. She is a yoga teacher. It has been months since I have even done any yoga. When I was practicing it my body felt strong.

More snow...

you can see the snow drifting off of the roof. The winds were blizzard like!

This is a scene from an allyway last night. It kind of looks like a page in a turn of the century photo album.

Richie driving the truck at night. This is the first time I have tried night photography with this camera.


We spent from about 5 p.m. last night until almost 10 p.m. shoveling and plowing snow. Both of us are sore and tired today. Thank God I didn't have to go in and work today...he did. And I feel so sorry for him.

Who are these two homeless looking people? OH...me and Richie taking a break from shoveling and plowing. We were sitting at a local McDonald's!

Today we have sub-zero temperatures.

Blizzard conditions today...

Christmas in January.

This little blue trailer with the awning at the front window always looks cheery. We pass a large trailer park as we walk the trail.

A blue kind of day.

These boots were not made for the snow. Have to check out the GoodWill and see if they have any waterproof boots in my size. We are going to have to do more snow removal tonight! How can I make that fun?

view from our condo...

So, tonight we will try these noodles. There is a great little Asian grocery were we got these green tea noodles and spices.

Sunday

Iowa city, Iowa. Saturday January 10, 2009.

We are lounging today. Lots of snow to look at and yesterday we shoveled snow in the I.C. for 4 hours! Kind of sore today...

I really don't even want to go outside today at all. But we may go and take a drive to check out small nearby towns. Seeing how far out we could live and still work here.

trying to stay warm between trips...

Our mode of transportation...

Yay...

I have my old blog spot back. I deleted it a month ago and regretted it ever sense...now I have it back and can start over. This blog was started in 2002. Seven years ago! damn it should have never been deleted...oh well time to start again.