King Edward

Eddie I am. 

I am Eddie. 
I am King of this house.
King I am.



I do not answer
 to beck and call.
 Answer them?
 I will not at all!

I do not sleep where you say I will.
I Find my bed as I should.
Where I want, and where I say.
Be it box or hamper I lay.

I do not play when you say I must.

I find my play where I trust.
 Be it sheets or laundry fill

 I choose the toy as I will!

 

I give you love when it is best.

be it your lap or the computer desk.

I do it because I want it now

I'll even be so kind as to show you how.

 For I am King and I chose you!     So respect, and do see that you do!

For I am the King,

King Edward the Cat!

- you will just have to deal with that.

I am too adorable to ignore, after all. :P

a spin in the right direction

life has a funny funny way

of getting in the way 

of all the dreams 

you spin around 

in your head

the dreams that keep you

from being dead 

in your spirit 

in your soul

they are not the truth be told 

but they take hold 

and spin you round-

life has a funny funny way

 of getting in the way

 of the dreams spinnin round

 in your head

till you stop the bed

 and take a step off motion

step in the direction

 of the off normal

 off beat 

and routine

and start to dream

a bit of reality

a fragment of a clarity

that spins the tale round

the other way

and you can smile and say

this is mine
what a day
take a hold and spin it
round.

-janey      3/2013

More kitty fun

Been raining a lot, and the weather turned colder again, so not much is happening.
but  I have helpers to get through the day:

 Laundry help

 dishes help

just making a mess help.
Happy Friday!!!!!!!!!

One of our favorite real food meals ever!

Have you ever tried the Real Food Challenge? **
 In a step to eat healthier I took the real food challenge which has the best rules I have ever tried for changing the way I eat. Basically - in my words- For one week-you cook and eat using: No fast food. No convenience food. No boxes. Just cook. It really was not as hard as I thought. It was this challenge taken that inspired me to get the yogurt maker and start making my own homemade. Also the same challenge that inspired a canning set, and making apple butter!
The toughest step for me was, and has been, cereals in the morning for the kids, and sliced cheese for the sandwiches I send in lunches. But we are doing great!

Everyone voted here and the meal my family felt was their favorite during this week was:
Chicken breast sauteed in coconut oil with Garlic and pepper, served with a mix of vegies, and Au gratin Potatoes

 My Recipe for Au gratin Potatoes
6-8 potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly,
 layered into buttered (or cooking oil sprayed) baking pan 13x9x2.
heat oven to 400 F
then
in med sauce pan combine:
 1/2 c water
 1/2 cube real butter
1/2 cup homemade plain yogurt
1 brick cream cheese *8 oz
2 c milk
1-2 tbs parsley & chopped chives
 garlic salt
pepper
heat in sauce pan stirring constantly, over med heat until cream cheese completely melts,(does not have to boil)  immediately pour over potato slices . leave uncovered and bake on center rack 45 min.
Let cool 3-5 min before serving. 

Now, in this meal I wasn't perfect according to the rules of Real Food Challenge- I did use a frozen vegie mix and I easily could have replaced this with fresh broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, or whatever! But the challenge is realistic, and allows for goofs -which is what I love for this! The fact of the matter is you are allowed to use up what is still in the fridge- the main idea being you are making better choices, and eliminating the fake foods, preservatives and unnecessary junk food. Which we have done. And my family voted on this one meal as the best. So I am posting it- mistakes and all. In my defense I can say I used fresh frozen, not canned, and not frozen with tons of "butter sauce" or something else that is so frequently offered now a days. LOL
Anyway, I want to thank the people who designed this challenge and say it has changed the way I look at food! Awesome!!!!!

**Disclaimer
The Real Food Challenge is not mine, it belongs to Roxanne at: http://theholisticmama.com/real-food-challenge/ .
I simply participated in the challenge and am blogging my opinion and results there of. I take no responsibility for it, except in saying that it is the best challenge I have ever participated in in all my 44 years! And so grateful to the Holistic Mama for sharing it!!   (*** I have posted with her permission. And Have been notified by Roxanne that there will be another Real Food Challenge available to anyone who's interested in April! Go check it out!)

kitty update

Laser!!!!!!!! Laser toy ! Laser laser laserrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, meow. NOW!!!!!!!! 

Sophie has figured out the source of the infamous "red dot" and is currently guarding it. And randomly mewwing a demand for it- she hasn't moved for over 20 minutes..... laser-laser-laser addict!!

..................................... Eddie on the other hand could give a crap. (Thhhhhhhbbbbbbbbttttttt)

Ha!!!!                  Happy Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Canning days

Days come and go,
some smoothly, some not
How it is interpreted-
depends on what you put in the pot.

HaHa! I got on a bit of a roll the past few days, crafty kitchen kind of roll. I first made candles. Actually just re-purposed /reused my old candle containers and refilled them with some new soy wax and used orange and cinnamon essential oils to give them a scenty yummy kick! Wonderful!
But that just got things started! 

Our first time ever canning anything! We tried simply- tomatoes- and they turned out perfect! So happy!

 

We celebrated our little old fashioned endeavor with an early afternoon BBQ.  Felt great to add jar to the shelf, knowing they contained nothing more than fresh ingredients. 

 The experience continued when memories of canned items on grandma's shelf inspired me to look up apple butter- which used to be one of my top favorites as a child. I was impressed with how easy it looked to make! So I made it! LOL Took all day, and I especially understood that I'll need to get a sieve soon if I plan to keep this up! 

But there it was- our second canning event! Apple butter! Yay!!!!!

Between it all the Snow Full moon peaked out. Loved it! Wonderful!  How have you been this last week?

Friday Walk and Talk-

This week has been a whirl wind, a tailspin, and a frazzled frizzled mess.  I won't list all the reasons, but this happens sometimes. Some weeks- some days even- just come together and others do not. What do you do?
 I am understanding more and more, as I get older, that days like that can really define the kind of person you are.  What do you do? If you focus on the stumbles, the problems, and or the stresses- so much so they are all you see- they can define you! Even to the point where you can develop a certain "victim" attitude. (I am not talking of tragedy, or horrific catastrophic events either- I fully separate those right off  as different and not part of this conversation)... I am talking daily struggles, like your kid comes down with the flu, paychecks fall short, car breaks down, bills are due, neighbors dog chewed a hole in the fence,  the heater broke- stuff that could occur on any given day regularly to throw off the norm and cause stress in the day, or bring down your momentum.
Does that make sense?
Some people focus so much on them that their life becomes a rolling diary of stress, almost as if they are just poised and ready for the next negative event so they can have something to talk about. They develop a soap opera mentality about it and it does eventually define them. it's unfortunate, but very true. Often if they wait for a negative and one doesn't come, they create one just to use! How self defeating is that! But they do!
So how do you handle it? What do you do?
I used to do that- I used to be that -and OMG was it exhausting! Every time I'd repeat a stressor I'd feel a sense of the initial stress over again and it kept my whole being in a constant state of fight or flight- and that's just flat out-...well? exhausting! ...Whew! Take a deep breathe and hummm for a second... time out! What!?!  Why would anyone do that consistently is beyond me...it hurts! It's draining! It's self defeating! It's physically paining! depressing! and above all- DEFINING!
 Is that what you want to be?
 Is that what I want to be?
 NO!
As I am growing older, I am finding that it is easier to focus on retelling my random day by repeating only the amazing- rather than the stress... by saying the positives to others, I am not pulling attention to the daily typical stress- I'm bringing attention to the good -and not just allowing what has happened to be more than it is- a problem that has a solution and goes away as soon as I figure it out. Simple- when looked at it that way- not quite so...DEFINING. Is it?

Remember, focus on what is good. 
If you think, speak, and act positive, you will attract positive.
Harm none.
 And Love...                                         

                                                          kitty kisses in the morning! Yay!