Another day off!! yay!  So, I've been knitting and working on the rug.

Just had a visit from the Jehovah's witness's (Watch Tower brochure) I did feel the love and caring they have to share with others. Sometimes I wonder if we should find a church to go to...

We have an icy cold day today and I should be off to work already.  Still in p.j.'s however...sipping on some green tea.  This week (at least) I am on a mission to eat only clean, healthy foods.  That means...No sugars, No dairy, No gluten, No added salt.  So what to eat you ask?  And why do this?
1. Allowed foods:
All veggies (limit white potatoes)
apples (one per day)
brown rice
eggs
fish
oatmeal
coconut milk
nuts and seeds
spices
water and green tea

2. Why do this?  Well, I have been unwell for awhile with pain in my joints, fatigue and at times nausea...but enough with the bodily complaints.  I have found that when I do this way of eating I have tremendous energy and uplifted mood!  My body doesn't hurt anymore either...

So anyway...this morning, a smoothie of kale, almond butter, coconut milk, water and an apple.

I will keep track here of my progress...
p.s. my shop has a couple of items in it!!  

There is a winter storm warning today.  Six to ten inches of snow is forecasted. A good day to be unwell...just some body aches...blah,blah...and a day off work to enjoy the snowfall. 

Richie brought home some fresh rye bread and apple pie from the co-op this afternoon!

 I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
Mae West

This post needs something... words.  These bottles were in the window last year like this.  Now there is a shelf that holds some very sad looking plants.  These poor things have been sorely neglected this winter thus far.

The peace plant is drooping unrecognizably. I've just watered so it should soon perk up.

There is hope on the horizon which I am so very much looking forward to.

There are red lentils soaking in the pan.  Today we will enjoy a spicy dahl!!  This is one of MY all time favorite comfort foods.  Funny thing is that I only recently started making it (in just the last 5 years or so). 

* "I bloom indoors in the winter like a forced forsythia; I come in to come out.  At night I read and write, and things I have never understood become clear; I reap the harvest of the rest of the year’s planting.”

– Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek

Thanks, Rosemary! 

Tuesday and we are looking for near 50 degrees today!

my little sanctuary...

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Buddha

"The worst enemy to creativity, is self doubt" Sylvia Plath

The rug is coming along...still stitching smaller wool circles onto the larger ones. Will I even allow this to be stepped on?  haha

The creative bug is making it's self apparent.  Dive in girl!!!

Today is supposed to be near 50 degrees to day.

Unseasonably warm today!

This has been in process for a few months.  haha....or should I say, put away for a few months.  It's a combo of acrylic paint,  coloured pencils and Indian ink.  Don't ask about the meaning...I have forgot and the meaning will be changing while I work on it.  But in the beginning I think it had something to do with embarrassment and poor self esteem.  Downer, I know...it's just what came.  I just follow what it is that "comes".

So a warm January day is predicted and I will be inside working.  Hopefully I will get out soon enough to take Mattie for a nice walk!  And pick up some coffee for Rich and I to meet at the park...so he can have a break.  I'm such a thoughtful wife! ha

So Iowa has a tie with the caucus results...and Ron Paul is a close 3rd.  I can live with that!

The challenge today is to replace all thoughts or spoken sentences that contain the word "hate" with the word "love".

Cheers!

New Years highlight!

Here it is caucus day in iowa.  We got a call last night to take part in a straw poll.  Ron Paul was the answer!  We have never done the caucus thing since we are new here.  The only signs we have seen in town have been for Ron Paul.  It is just the main stream media who black out the truth.

I'm just downloading some podcasts for work and having a cup of coffee.  

This week (hopefully tonight) I have some really awesome antique illustrations from and antique book-set of works by Charles Dickens that I will be listing in my online etsy shop!

One of the illustrations

 They are some sort of etching.  Like a wood cut but carved onto a copper or metal plate of some sort, and then inked and pressed onto paper.  The book is from 1870.  The only reason I would even desecrate a book is because it is in such bad condition that it is unreadable.  By this I mean it is stained, ragged edges, brittle to the touch and just plain falling apart!  haha  There are dozens of the illustrations.  They can be used to frame or use in crafts.  I will be listing them in my shop soon.

This year looks to be an improvement over last year!  Let's hope so anyway!

Cheers