Not-So-Random Kindness

This Friday evening the Hubs and I had a hot date! You may have seen the post HERE about our awesome movie night. Well that awesome evening was made possible by a very awesome lady who we have know for several years now. I have groomed her dogs for a while now, she became my client because the other groomer I worked with at the time thought she was "too weird". She was a little high maintenance, but very nice with the sweetest dog so she quickly became my regular then a customer at my home salon.

She works at the grocery near our house, so I see her often. She even had the first home show for my direct sales jewelry business. She began to call us if she needed anything, even calling us to take her to and from the ER when her own adult children could not be bothered.

Over the last few months her hours at work have been cut, and I offered to groom her now two dogs in exchange for baby sitting, hence free sitter for our big night. The next day, she called and asked the Hubs to come outside and meet her. She pulled up, then handed the Hubs three loaded bags of food, including lots of frozen meat, and told him to take it inside then come back out so she could take him to buy milk and bread. I don't know how she knew, but at the time we had $20 to get through five days, unless the salon phone started ringing. It did ring, but boy did we feel better with a back-up plan!

I loved her before, and am so moved by her kindness. I had been feeling pretty down and wallowing in self pity for a bit, and she reminded me that the Goddess puts people in our lives because they have something to give us. I was not just given a few days worth of food, although of helped more than I can say, but a reminder I am not alone, and help comes even when I am too bitchy or proud to ask for it. She is now at the top of the Prayer Shawl list, and I have plenty of positive energy to put in it for her.

H.W.

Apple Butter

Apples were on sale last week at my neighborhood market, so I grabbed 4 bags of them and tried out apple butter in the crock pot, and used my new canning skills to preserve it.

Luckily for me, a friend of mine has one of those peeler/corer things and let me borrow it, saving me probably an hour peeling and slicing. If I continue to make apple butter, I must buy one.

I also got to use my mortar and pestle for the first non-spell time to crush the cloves. I have had it probably 6-7 years and have never used it in a cooking capacity!

Here is the recipe:

Fill a 5 qt crock pot to overflowing with peeled, sliced apples sprinkle over 4 c sugar, 2 t ground cinnamon, 1/4 t ground cloves, and 1/4 t salt

put lid on and cook on high for one hour

(if the lid wont fit on tightly that's ok, it cooks down very quickly)

after an hour, stir and turn down to low for 9 hours

(leave lid off for the last hour for thicker apple butter)

ladle into 4 pint jars, lid and refrigerate if using right away, or boil in a water bath canner for 10 minutes to preserve.

Super easy, super delicious, and great as a gift! My sister had English muffins waiting when I brought her down a jar.

H.W.

Clerks at the IMA

Friday night The Hubs and I had a hot double-date with my best friend and his girlfriend! We planned it for a month, and bought our tickets online two weeks ago, and good thing because we were too broke to buy them that night. We scrounged up gas money, and confirmed with the sitter, who is a dear family friend and I groom her dogs in exchange for baby sitting. We packed a cooler, and some apple butter and home made bread and zucchini bread to snack on and headed out for a cheap but awesome night out.

The Indianapolis Museum of Art shows movies in the amphitheater every Friday of the summer. I went with this couple and another couple to see Rocky Horror last year, although this was the Hubs first time seeing a movie there.

We got there about 45 minutes before our friends and snagged a spot in the center back. Good for watching movies, but right in the blazing, evening sun! We also looked longingly at the full 3 course buffets other moviegoers had brought. I hope next time we come, I have a busier week in the salon so we can do it up! When Juan and Erin arrived, we spent a great hour chatting and drinking the two Sun Kings we had in our date budget.







All in all, a great night with awesome friends watching one of my top 10 favorite movies. Very thankful, since I needed a kid free evening!! We are all going camping next week, wish us luck
H.W.

Monday Message 7/18/11

I think this reading is mostly directed at me, but I'll pass it along. Some of you might need the same kick in the pants!
The Pook, Gloominus Doom, and the Payment all inverted.
You need to work on this, right now. Because your problem is your perspective, and you are letting it pull you under. Yes, you give too much, do too much, are too many things to too many people, but that makes it your responsibility to keep some back for yourself. If you are waiting for someone to notice you are killing yourself to do all you do, you will find only frustration. Give to others because it gives you meaning. Give to yourself because it gives you joy. Do what you must, but always keep enough of yourself back to stay centered at the core, instead of scraping away at yourself until you are paper thin and hoping someone else builds you back up. Ask for help when you need it, instead of hoping someone will come when you finally break down. Love yourself at least as much as you love those important to you.
I'll give it a try if you will...
H.W.

Healing List 7/14/11

Please send Reiki, prayers, or simply positive and healing thoughts to this list.

To include yourself or others on the list, simply post the names in the comments.

*****

Kathy E. in Summitville IN

The Edwards family

Sam, Jennifer,and the Finan family

Byron in Ft. Wayne

Gina in Indy

Caylee Marie Anthony

Hunter the cocker spaniel diagnosed with detatched retina

Gavi

The Monument Fire Pets and the efforts of volunteers to reunite pets and parents

Chris P. in Indiana, recovering from Spinal surgery 

Serena Weicht, Dorothy Heard, and family

Lauren Spierer, family, and all those searching for her

special note for the horses and dogs being used in the search

Tom, Joyce, Doris, Alverita, Chuy, Rose, and Bob and all those affected by the southern Arizona wildfires

 US "Darkhorse" 3rd Battalion 5th Marines and their families. They are fighting it out in Afghanistan and have lost 9 Marines in 4 days. 

Pickles

I have never canned anything, and have only even seen it done once. We planted cucumbers with the idea of beginning my canning career with pickles. Saturday night when we got back from Minnetrista (photos coming soon but my laptop is in for service and for once I used my camera not my phone) we walked back to the garden for the first time in about two weeks to find maybe 15 pounds of cucumbers, a few yellow squash, a zucchini,  and carrots.

We brought everything in as it got dark, and Sunday evening I dove into my canning maiden voyage. I now have 3 jars of frigde pickles and 5 that I processed. All of the five sealed correctly, and I'm feeling not so intimitated and mystified byhe whole canning process.

Hopefully they turn out tasty, because it does not appear my cucumber vines are done producing. My loved ones may be getting jars of pickles with their crocheted gifts for Yule this year! Now I'm off to make zucchini bread.
H.W.

Monday Message 7/11/11

Honesty, G. Hobyah, The Journeyman

You need to be brutally honest with yourself this week. Dig deep to find clarity, although you may not like the view without the filter of your ego to soften the edges. You will need this starkness of vision, however for the road ahead. The journey can have hazards, but you have to decide which are real and call for caution, and which are your own negative self talk. A journey is an apprenticeship, and is sometimes more important than the destination.