My Original Spark!

January 23rd 2012 was when I really started using the SparkPeople website and utilizing all of the tracking tools that they have to offer. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed that I truly have changed my whole person; body, mind, and spirit. I know this is different not just some one time short term change. I've had moments of clarity and bursts of temporary motivation with some progress, only to regress back into my old bad habits. I've looked at myself and felt so angry for how much of my life I've let casually fly by with nothing to show for it.

So, I asked my self what was my "SPARK"? Something has changed in me permanently and I am not saying I won’t have set backs but I will never go back to who I used to be. From here on out I will always pick myself back up and keep moving forward.

My "SPARK" was unfortunately something very sad. I started searching for an old friend on Facebook to try and reconnect. I instead found his obituary. He had died of cancer at age 40 and left behind a wife and three beautiful children. He died only about 2.5 short years after we had lost touch with them. I had always pictured them growing old together surrounded by grandchildren. For me that was such a wake up call. I can tell you almost to the moment the date and time that this change to place in me it was the evening of November 9th 2011.

It wasn't as if I had not seen someone's life tragically cut short plenty of times before. But his death really and truly affected me and my husband. It took a couple of months of mourning my old friend and really thinking about my life and what I really wanted. I noticed all of the nothings that I filled my day with. I noticed the trivial things that I was uptight and OCD about. There are a plethora of things that don’t matter in the scope of life’s bigger picture. During that mourning period for my friend I started to let go, relax, and focus on the here and now.

It was also during that time period that my husband and I re-joined the world of Argentine Tango. Over the last 10 years we had taken Tango workshops and classes and attended the practica (practice) dances, but we let life pull us away. We would always say to each other we really need to start going to Tango Classes again and never would. Then we received notice via a Yahoo Group of a workshop that was coming up. We signed up in October and on November 11th almost exactly two days to the hour that we found out about our friend we attended the first class in the workshop.

The workshop and classes that we continued in after that were what helped me and us to make the permanent change that has taken place. Tango and how it changes your life… now that is a whole other blog post, maybe more! There are so many wonderful intricacies involved with immersing oneself into the Argentine Tango World. We’ve also made amazing new friends!

The age old lesson applies here. “Life is short so make the most of it!” Whether we are blessed enough to live long healthy happy lives or we are cut short, I am happy in the here and now with no more regrets or pity parties. The pity party train has left the station for the last time and I was not on it!

Kale and Potato Soup with Italian Chicken Sausage

The first time that I made this was in December 2010. I doubled the broth, water, pepper, and added extra potatoes, sausage, kale, onions, and garlic. Kale is pretty neutral tasting, and it's loaded with good nutrients! Also I did not have low sodium broth so I only used 1/2 tsp of sea salt w/iodine.

I will be posting recipes here from now on. As Facebook took away the ability post links separately. Maybe this will get me to have a real blog! That would be great.

I will be making this soup again tomorrow night. Probably close to a triple batch. I have 24 quart stock pot and it will be almost full when I am done. I plan to freeze at lease a third of it. And I plan to make at least one more stock pot of another soup each week.

Most of my recipes will be gluten and cow's milk free.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/kale-and-potato-soup-with-turkey-sausage

Is It Time To Get To Know The New Neighbors?

I am thinking about neighbors & friends. Because it dawned on me that is has been about a year today that one of my very special neighbor friends unexpectedly passed away. Over the last couple of years eight of my neighbors in three of the surrounding houses are gone. My best friend & her husband are stationed out of state, they will be back. Our other neighbors had to move to Alabama for a job change. I miss all of them & the whole neighborhood is different. Life can change so quickly and time passes by too fast. I will need to come out of my shell so that I can get to know the new people.

Where has the Year Gone?

This year has been filled with so much. I haven't been taking any time at all to write in my blog. How lame! I am on Facebook a lot and working a lot. We bought a sailboat. We helped my sister and her nephews find their own apartment about a month ago. I blog in my head all the time, but never get it typed up. I truly hope to be here more. Ciao for now!

"Lonnie pushed out of The Nest!"

Well we purchased our sailboat a Columbia 26 Mk II on the 5th of May 2009. It took us until this weekend to actually motor out of the slip and sail it. We were very cautious. We could have purchased a flat screen TV or upgraded any number of electronics or other desired or "needed" home improvements but ... this is something we have both dreamed about since before we met 16 years ago. Lonnie lives at the end of the dock 2 slips away from us. We met him the first night that we looked at the boat, and the 2nd time, and the 3rd time! The 3rd look at the boat was the best because we were over the giddiness and looking at common sense items and making our list of questions. We walked to the end of the dock and "knocked on his door." He kindly invited us aboard his beautiful Matthews power boat. He spoke to us for over an hour answering every question or concern we had. The next time we saw Lonnie we were the new owners! We picked the of name of the boat several months ago before we even knew which boat we would purchase. Her name is Firefly. Saturday afternoon May 23rd we took our friend Bill to see Firefly for the first time and Lonnie and our other Marina neighbor Frank were both there. Both of them had offered help in previous conversations, but now we really needed it. We had taken our boaters safety course many years ago and done reading to refresh and talked all of the safety issues to death! It was time to take her out for our first sail. So we spoke to Lonnie and Frank. Lonnie actually came aboard and helped us get the sails completely rigged up. We have sailed before but only on a 16' Hobie Cat that we owned for one season. We were very nervous and really wanted Lonnie to actually come a long. Needless to say Lonnie did not come a long. He and Frank basically shoved us out of the slip. We used the motor to get out of the marina then raised the sails. Oh my gosh, how exhilarating! So beautiful so many things you see from the water that you never see from land. We even had a minor run aground incident, only soft sand thank goodness! We quickly got out of the sand and returned to have some beautiful wind in our sails for about an hour. All the while keeping our eye on the markers that went back to marina. We didn't want to get too far away. We made our way back just fine and Lonnie and Frank were there immediately to throw us the lines and help us get tied back up in the slip. I can't wait to sail more and learn more and take weekend trips and eventually whole vacations up the coast. It is more awesome than I dreamed of. Thank you Lonnie and Frank for being great and helpful neighbors! I will never forget our first sail.

A "Snowday" Haiku For You

Snow does not fall here
Clouds cold confusion what now
We will have to move

Are you one of these or do you know one of these?

Ever meet someone who puts everyone else before themselves. I have met other people like this. They seem to have boundless energy and time to give both inside and outside the home. As a matter of fact I have one of them living in my house right now. It is my nephew Brady. He is only 12 years old. He will do anything a person asks of him. He is helpful, quiet, considerate, observant, and many other things that I find amazing. I was the same way when I was growing up. I have the desire to still live this way but not the energy or time that it takes. Are people like this built differently than others? Does the world need us, want us, use and take advantage of us? These and many more questions have occurred to me. After many years of self analyzing I know why I am like this. But how do others become this? A few weeks ago we had a pretty interesting Bible Study having to do with things like empathy, sympathy, compassion, brotherly love, kindness etc. The general consensus in the room was that it is hard to be these things. I felt alone, because my nature is the opposite to a fault it is very hard for me not to be like this. I have been like this to so many for so long that I burned myself out. However it is still my nature and even when I am tired and I know better I over extend myself to take care of others. And I know from history that many people take advantage, I still keep going. Why? I don't know, but I hope I continue to learn and am able to use these positive behaviors with wisdom.