by Tish MacWebber | Jan 21, 2017 | Poetry
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Copyright ©2017 Tish MacWebber
All rights reserved
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Grace has its place
in my everyday life
I need it because
it grants a respite
If you allow
yourself some grace
it lets you be human
in the daily race
for perfection
The unobtainable goal
can taint you
deep inside your soul
By letting a little
grace in your life
It removes the guilt
that causes you strife
Stop looking up
at the bar over your head
Grab on and pull
look over the top instead
Take that dose of reality
and swallow it down
Learn how to float
rather than drown
Take a break; catch your breath
it will be okay
Don’t worry yourself to death
tomorrow is a new day.
by Tish MacWebber | Jan 8, 2017 | Cooking Adventures
That is a picture of Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole. It is one of my favourite Trim Healthy Mama recipes. Last year I stumbled across this plan, and thought I’d give it a whirl. I can say it works, as long as you work at it. I have been bouncing between fifteen and twenty pounds lost in the last year. From playing with it. I am never 100% on plan. But I have made some changes, and feel better when I try hard. So this is one of the reasons I am working harder at it this year.
I need to plan ahead for grocery shopping and cooking meals to stay on track. I have started prep cooking on weekends. Prep cooking for two doesn’t have to be complicated, unless the other person doesn’t want to eat what you have made. At first, I was disappointed with my husband for not wanting to do this with me. I had to take a step back, and think about how to progress with it, and keep us both happy.
There was a point when I realized that I was merely existing and not really living my life to its fullest potential. I came to that conclusion for myself, about myself. Not for him. So he will have to deal with his choices, like I am dealing with mine. I am choosing to try harder. Which means sometimes I cook his and hers lasagna. Other times we make spaghetti sauce and he makes pasta, while I have spaghetti squash with mine. Sometimes we eat the same thing. Sometimes I eat things that are not on plan, with him. Other times I make what I want and he has to feed himself. We manage.
Adapting the grocery list and budget for this was challenging. We use coupons when we have them. We circle what we want in the flyers before making our grocery list. And when I am on top of things, I pick a couple of recipes and add missing ingredients to my grocery list. That is work too. Not hard work, but it is time consuming. So it helps to have a time set aside for this. We like to go get the groceries together. One reason is that we are on a budget, and if I go alone, a sale could cause me to “forget” the budget. He keeps me within the guidelines of the budget. Also, it is good to have help getting it all in the house and put away.
Storage is another issue we have. Living in a mini home, we have to maximize the space we have. That is an ongoing struggle. It is part of the reason I am involved with the cleaning and organizational challenges. There would be more prep cooking done if I had the space and money for more storage containers. Also time. I would love to cook all weekend, but then, there is the cleanup. So that slows me down sometimes.
I have learned that one or two casseroles a week gives me enough food for lunches all week, and for some suppers. Which is reasonable. Until he doesn’t want anything I made. Which on the wrong day makes me angry. But I am learning to let that go, it’s not me he doesn’t want, it’s the food I made. Which by the way, is really tasty, the recipes rock! He just misses potatoes and veggies and meat. Together. I do eat sweet potatoes more than white potatoes, now. Sometimes we bake some of each. He turns his nose up at spinach. That’s why I make his and hers lasagna. He eats traditional, and I eat Lazy Lasagna, which does have spinach and no noodles. I have been teaching him to cook some things, so if he decides he wants something different, he has choices.
Ideally, there would be a way to cook enough for a whole month at a time, have containers to keep it in the freezer, and have him join me on this journey. Reality is that he doesn’t like spinach. So, in this like other aspects of our marriage, we choose to compromise. Sometimes that is the only answer, until he realizes I am right. Which he will, eventually, I have no doubt. Seeing is believing, and we will be seeing results this year. I plan on working hard at all of my goals for 2017.
by Tish MacWebber | Dec 31, 2016 | Coffee and Stories
Coffee in a pretty yellow cup and saucer.
I have been taking care of a friend’s coffee mug for about three years now. She has moved out of the country for work. So I have a few of her things in storage, some of them I have promised to use carefully, and one of them is an extra large coffee mug. It holds more than 20 oz of coffee. When I enjoy my coffee out of this mug, I tell people I am having a bucket of coffee. It really is that big, much bigger than the pretty yellow one in the picture.
I am not the type of person that has to have the coffee piping hot to enjoy a cup. I like it warm, not too hot, but with some heat left in it is optimal. So when it gets cold, I have two choices. Reheat it in the microwave and wait for it to be at that perfect temperature again, or go get a straw. Today, I choose the straw.
I know, some people that read this will shudder, and think that cold coffee is disgusting. When I drink coffee, I don’t put anything in it, I drink it black. I used to dress it up, but I decided to go cold turkey a few years ago, and I convinced myself I would learn to like it. I now enjoy it this way.
I have tried bulletproof coffee. Who comes up with this stuff? Maybe I just don’t know how to make it right, but I did not enjoy my only attempt at this creation. I will stick to taking my coffee black and sometimes flavoured. Some of the flavoured coffees work for me, and some don’t. I like a good variety, and when I decide to splurge on K-cups, I try new flavours whenever I can.
I was talking to someone the other day, and he said I should drink Ethiopian coffee. He said it will keep me up for nine days; and that I will save money because I won’t be running to Timmy’s all the time. I live in Canada, Timmy’s is a reference to Tim Hortons Coffee and Donut restaurants. When I was a child, I thought it was Important Donuts. They are the main Canadian preference for coffee shops, and a place a lot of people like to spend time, cafe style. If you ask your friends if they want a Timmy’s, you usually get replies that include a double-double in them somewhere. Now, I’m all for a good cup of coffee, but to me, being awake for 9 days sounds a little extreme.
Why the bendy straw? Well, the bucket is fairly tall. I like options, and bendy straws are more fun. Why not? I am sitting here getting ready for New Year’s Eve in my mind. I have a lot on my to-do list for today. I am invited to a house party, and it is a potluck. My husband and I have gone to this party for several years now when the weather cooperated. The forecast is good for tonight, so we plan to attend. He will be working until I pick him up on my way to the party. With a big list of things to do and only me here to do them, as much as I would have liked to drink a cup of coffee at that perfect temperature, it wasn’t in the cards today. So a bendy straw it is.
I am feeling a little nostalgic today. 2016 was a difficult year in many ways. A lot has happened. I lost some weight, so that is something I would like to continue in 2017. Living a healthier lifestyle is one of my resolutions this year. It will be something I blog about, because it is important to me, and I want to share my successes. Maybe it will help another person in their struggle, and it will do some good. I started this blogging adventure in November and decided that I need to write those books I have wanted to write my whole life. So that is going to happen. Writing the Fantasy Trilogy is another resolution. I hope that the music world stops in to read my lyrics. I dream of a collaboration with musicians to make my songs audible for the world, not just to be poetry in a blog. I have had the pleasure of making new friends online through this project, and I am grateful for those who took the time to help me get this blog from an idea to a reality. I thought I was only going to make the two resolutions for 2017, but something joined the ranks in the last 24 hours. I have attempted to complete home cleaning and organization challenges for the last 2 years. Last night I signed up again, and I am not committing to finishing it in 16 weeks, but I am committing to finishing it this year. I joined two last year, as one is more for in-depth cleaning (16 weeks) and the other one is for quick organizing (31 days) so I will be working on both challenges in 2017. My final resolution is to finish them within the year.
Well, I am now making that annoying noise through the bendy straw. I have finished my coffee. Time to walk away from the desk for a while, crank the tunes, and tackle my to do list. However you ring in 2017, I wish you well and hope you accomplish what you need to do in 2017. Happy New Year!
