Beginnings

Why do people get so enthused about the new year? After all, it is just the next day in our lives. Nothing really earth shaking happens from when we crawl into bed on the last night of 2010 and awaken in 2011. I think people still want to believe in new beginnings and possibilities. No matter how good or bad your life may seem, we all get a little excited at the prospect of a fresh start. It's like starting the school year with new peechees and sharpened pencils. We feel ready to tackle anything with our new supplies.
What are our new supplies for 2011? It would be nice if sharpened pencils were all we needed. Maybe what we need is a sharpened sense of purpose. What can we make better in our lives? What toxic situations and people do we need to leave behind in order to be the best we can be? What do we need to own and stop blaming others? Hard, even harsh, questions to ask ourselves. Then again, the diamond cannot be polished without friction.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010 Recap

Although I think making resolutions is silly, I do like to look back over the past year and see what it brought. As in every life, there is good and bad ~ roses and thorns, so to speak. This is my last blog for 2010 and I have decided to make it a list of all the roses and thorns I can remember, both big and small. I am so excited to be turning my blog into a book. Most of what I write isn't earth shaking. It gives my overactive brain an outlet for some of the thoughts and ideas that hit me and, maybe, just maybe, something my grand kids can pick up years from now and read and laugh at what a character their grammie was.

ROSES
running my 1st half marathon
Sunday night dinners & good bottles of wine
trip to Austin to see my friend
changing jobs
family camping trip
San Francisco 3 times in 7 months
movie with girlfriends
grand kids getting older
reading some great books
freedom
dinners out with hubby
consistent running each week
writing my blog
running errands with my daughter
Jack saying I'm the "best cooker" ever!
Maddy making me laugh
Abbey's "looks"
continued good health

THORNS
broken bones in the Riley household
too much rain for the guest house schedule
more gray hairs and wrinkles
changing jobs (yes, rose & thorn!)
juggling family finances
too much time on my hands
forgetting to "be here now"
grand kids getting older (yes, R & T)
worrying about my adult children

My husband is constantly telling me what a great life I have and I need to be more grateful for it. After looking over this, I see that there are more roses than thorns. The roses are not really big things, but a lot of little things that make life good and worth living. Then again, the thorns are not big things either, nothing tragic or awful, just life. All in all, pretty darn good. Just don't tell my husband!

Ziploc Omelet

Here is a clever and fun way to make a quick breakfast when you have a house full of people. I wish I could say I invented it, but it was passed along to me my a dear friend who saw it somewhere. She tried it and says it works wonderfully. Sounds like the perfect thing for New Year's day morning when you may have been up a little late toasting the new year.

Have guests write their name on a quart-sized ziploc bag with permanent marker.

Crack two eggs (large or extra large) into the bag (no more than two) & shake to combine.

Put out a variety of ingredients: cheese, ham, onion, green pepper, tomatoes, hash browns, salsa.

Each guests adds the prepared ingredients of their choice to their bag & shakes. Make sure to get the air out the bag and zip it up.

Place the bags in rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes (we did 15 minutes). You can usually cook 6 - 8 omelets together in a large pot. For more, make an additional pot of boiling water.

Open the bag and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.

This is nice to serve with fresh fruit & coffee cake. Everyone gets involved in the process and it's a great conversation piece.

Instant!

I like to consider myself a modern grammie ~ I email, I Skype, I text. However, sometimes I question if all of it is making our world better or worse. Maybe it is making kids today only satisfied with instant gratification. Asking them to write a thank you note seems silly to them when they can email their thanks. INSTANT! Teaching them to cook a meal is too much work when Costco has ready-made meals you just pop in the microwave. INSTANT! When they are bored, instead of begging mom or dad to take them to the store to buy a new game, they simply download the app on their device and there it is. INSTANT!
This is all well and good, but some things take time and patience. Where do they learn this lesson? As modern as I claim to be, I hope I am the one who is also showing my grand children that waiting also has value. Waiting helps us to see a bigger picture. It helps us get outside ourselves and realize that we are only part of the world and not the center of the universe. Waiting for something can make attaining it all the more satisfying. It's not an easy lesson, but a necessary one for us to learn.
Tonight, we wait for Santa and his reindeer. We have discussed his arrival for weeks. We have debated how he flies, how he gets to every house and more. The wait will be worth it!

Rain, Rain & More Rain

After almost a week of solid rain, I had to share some thoughts about it. California hasn't seen the likes of rain in this volume in many years. Many say we needed it and I agree, but after days and days of nothing but rain, you kind of want to yell, "Enough already!"
Isn't it just human nature to long for what we don't have? When it's hot, we wish it would cool down. When it's cold, we long for sunshine. Are we never satisfied or are we blind to the goodness around us only when its gone?
The rain started out being a pleasant diversion, but now, even the simplest of errands become a soggy, difficult mess to navigate. In and out of the car hardly seems worth it. Do I really need to go to the market? Can it wait another day? Driving across town to a Starbucks with a drive thru window beats racing across the puddle laden parking lot of my local one. On second thought, maybe I can just make coffee at home and forget the whole idea of getting in the car at all. Spending time fixing my hair in the morning seems a waste. Frizz finds me quickly in all this dampness. I wish I looked better in hats. Tomorrow is my monthly appointment to get my roots done. Much like the postman, neither rain, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep me from my appointment! Rain versus red hair ~ red hair wins every time!

Cards

One of my favorite things about this time of year is receiving all the Christmas cards in the mail. Seeing the designs and updated photos of people is such a treat. I have been making our family cards for, well, as long as we have been a family. Each year an idea pops into my head and develops into a photo card with a corny saying to go along. Over the years, my children complained about taking the photo each and every time. It just seemed like part of the tradition at our house. Now I have the grand children to include in the card making process. As anyone with small children knows, getting a photo of little people, all looking where you want them to look, all doing what you want them to be doing, is a daunting task. Even if they are far from polished and professional, I think the cards reflect who were are. Looking back over some cards from many years ago, long before we had the advantage of computers and photo shop, I cringe at how amateur my efforts were. They still make me smile. They still show a moment in time that I remember capturing, sometimes easily and other times, through angry tears because no one was cooperating with my brilliant idea. Either way, in the end, it was worth it.
I've already got a few ideas for next year's card!

Chocolate Classes

This year, I have been teaching chocolate candy making classes. Many of my friends have been kind enough to host a class. I show up with all the necessary tools, chocolate, molds, melting pots, pretzels, cookies, marshmallows, etc. to help them create some really fun and tasty treats. Each time I hold a class, I am always amazed at the creativity of people. At times, they come up with something I had not thought of before and I love it! Often, I hear someone say, "I am not creative or crafty at all. I can't believe I made this myself!" This makes me really happy because I know they go away from the class feeling good about themselves.

So many things in our daily life do not make us feel good about ourselves. We are in a pressure cooker society always racing and striving for bigger, faster, more. The negative tapes run louder in our heads than the positive ones. If I can help people, even for a short period of time, feel good about themselves, I am happy as well. Worry a little less. Love a little more. Although not easy, it IS worth trying each day ~ especially over chocolate!