Merriam-Webster defines anticipation as “the act of looking forward; especially: pleasurable expectation”
Did you ever feel like you were standing on the edge of something truly incredible?
As I left work this morning the smell of spring was in the air, riding softly on the morning breeze, creeping in quietly as Old Man Winter struggles to hold on with icy fingers.
Something you are sure you have never experienced before but you can feel it growing as a stream does with each droplet of water that, with the sun’s gentle glow, thaws from the icy winter snows.
I looked to the east as I made my way across the parking lot to my car and a gloriously beautiful sunrise was greeting the day, kissing the earth and giving a rosy blush to the snowy blanket of white that covers her – the promise of a new day quietly unfolding.
Did you ever want to slow life down so that you could immerse yourself totally in the wonder that is unfolding before you?
It seems that I am standing on the edge of incredible – anticipation is casting rays of ‘pleasurable expectation’ over me and I find myself wanting to bask in the glow as I, like the long frozen ground welcomes the harbinger of spring. I do not want to rush headlong into the experience however, I find myself hoping against hope that time stands still so I can savor each emotion, absorb every tiny nuance, and become completely engulfed in the wonder that surrounds me.
Last week I took a little trip to see a friend whom I have been missing – she is the Mistress of Mecca and I had a truly incredible afternoon and evening!
I went to see her because Denny put a bug in my ear about taking a class in April that some famous person was teaching and I was game for the idea but, alas, I was lacking the tools needed to take said class. I had been doing some clandestine research on this very thing for some months, so imagine my surprise with Denny’s invitation! Anyway, I figured I had better go to Mecca and see what Beth could show me and did she show me!! It did not take long at all for me to succumb to the Siren Song and before I knew it, I was at warp speed! In less than 8 hours, my first project completed and I was itching for more!
I am now proud to be sharing my home with the lovely Gina Lollobrigida!
Here is my first project – woven with some of my very first handspun Corriedale. It is soft and so warm! And LONG – and did I tell you all that I had this done in less than 8 hours??? Um, yeah… just sinful!
Seriously, don’t you love how this shawl pin matches perfectly? This was a find on my travels somewhere – it is an antique button. The pattern on the scarf – a simple twill pattern. Weaving is bliss, I am telling you, pure bliss!
Ort Number Two:
I have reached the four-month point in my rotator cuff surgery recovery and I am happy to say that The Most Amazing and Incredible Orthopedic Surgeon in North America deemed me a success! In fact, he said that he wishes all his patients did as well as I did. It was lots of work and I am finishing my physical therapy but I have full range of virtually pain free motion! I truly feel better than new and I am thrilled beyond belief to return to my normal duties at work starting on Friday night! The only issue I was having is some pesky muscle spasms but Adonis the Physical Therapist has given me a lovely little TENS unit and, low and behold, I did not want a new drug – just give me some Transcutaneous Electronic Nerve Stimulation and I am one happy girl! Even better, my shoulder is happy!! Life is very, very good indeed.
Ort Number Three:
For those of you who have followed my blog are aware that a daughter that I released for adoption a long time ago has contacted me. Well, I got an email this week about planning for a trip. Yes, it seems that what I have been dreaming about for almost a lifetime is going to come to fruition – I will be meeting this amazing young woman and her even more amazing mother next month. I am walking on air with my head in the clouds. There will be more news to follow, so stay tuned!
Ort Number Four:
The Spinner’s Flock is this weekend and you can be sure that I will be trekking over to spend the day with the Triumvirate of Naughty for a day of Moistness to the Nth Degree! I am dragging planetKnit along for her Induction to True Fiber Frenzy…if you are all lucky, I will have photos to share!
Ort Number Five:
New coffee table book – “Beautiful Sheep” my very biased review is that this is pure erotica for anyone who loves long wools… I myself feel the need for some Lincoln, oh my!
And with that, Gentle Reader, I am off to release my inner Domestic Diva so that I can spend the remainder of the day sans guilt working on my February Lady Sweater!
It seems that about once a quarter the urge to become one with my inner domestic goddess over takes me and the result is a flurry of deep cleaning, moving things, and the like…
Well, I freed my Inner Domestic Goddess yesterday and she was like a whirling dervish!
My kitchen found itself first on my list. The “Tupperware” cupboard – organized! The pots and pans – organized! The oven – cleaned! The refrigerator – cleaned! Yes, even the refrigerator!!
The Inner Me really wanted to start knitting on a baby sweater for a co-worker who just had a baby, but The Domestic Diva was not stoppable!
From the kitchen, I moved to the living room and I have rearranged the furniture and in the process banned all the resident dust bunnies to the bottom of the vacuum cleaner bag! I am happy to report that the new arrangement has much better lighting AND I have a spot to sit and spin without being in the traffic flow! I love it when a plan comes together!
From there I moved on to my closet – that dark black hole that sucks the life out of my bedroom! I am please to report that I have a bag of clothes for donation, a bag of clothes for consignment, and all those “single” socks are on their way to sock heaven where I hope they find their mate!
In the midst of all this domesticity, my tummy started to grumble and a recipe that had been piquing my interest from a crock-pot cookbook that I got on sale several weeks ago took root in my brain! It called for these delicious looking pork barbecues, it was a 2 day process starting with pork spare ribs of all things, and you reserve some of the meat and sauce and make barbecues later.
Well, while I frequently repress my inner domestic goddess, the Goddess of Cooking All Things Good has free reign and my dinner plans were on the move. I had made a lovely pork loin in the crock-pot late last week and you know that the vegetables were gone right away but I had a good portion of this lovely loin left. I started to work on the sauce and I am going to share it all with you! It is so simple and in less than an hour, you can have these amazing barbecues to serve your family!
·Start with one 18 ounce bottle of any barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s Original Barbecue Sauce)
·add to that one medium onion – chopped
·one stalk of celery – chopped
·one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce (I put this in the empty barbecue sauce bottle and shake it around to get all the barbecue sauce out)
·one packed tablespoon of brown sugar
·two teaspoons of garlic – minced
·two tablespoons of yellow mustard
·and one teaspoon of crushed thyme.
Now, the recipe would have you pour this over 4 and a half to 5 pounds of spare ribs and cook the ever-living hell out of it. Um, yeah…my thoughts exactly.
Here is what I did, I put all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmered over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the onion and celery were soft. You could sauté them in a bit of olive oil as well and add them in, but I was going for quick and easy!
Now, here is where the good part comes in – a tangy Cole slaw to top this savory concoction would be just perfect, right? That is what I thought too so I made up some quick and easy Cole slaw and I will share that recipe with you too!
·Two cups of shredded cabbage, I buy it already shredded at the market – get the kind with shredded carrots in.
·One-eight to one-quarter cup apple cider vinegar
·three tablespoons of honey
·one-quarter of a teaspoon salt
·some fresh cracked pepper – I put in bit more than an eighth of a teaspoon
·and you can add celery seed – I did not for this recipe.
Put all of the ingredients in a plastic container with a lid (if you are in my kitchen, you can now find a container with a lid to match making this process much more streamlined, to be sure!) and shake well. Put in the refrigerator for about an hour, shaking occasionally.
While the sauce is simmering and the Cole slaw is marinating I heated the left over pork loin in the microwave a few minutes until it was warm enough for me to pull it apart with two dinner forks. Once I had it all pulled, I put it in a large pot so I could mix it with the barbecue sauce.
Toast a bun until it is nicely browned and a bit crispy; place on it a generous portion of the pork barbecue, and top with a dollop of well-drained slaw. Serve with ice-cold hoppy ale – my choice was Founders Dry Hopped Pale Ale. The result for me – one very happy mouth, and oh my, was it good.
I am giving that Domestic Diva free reign for a bit longer today, up on her list – the closets in the remainder of the house – who knows what treasures she will find there!
…maybe she will find the inner writer who has been struggling lately, one never knows!
It has been a long January and I am sorry that I have been on a bit of a blog hiatus for a number of reasons and I would like to start by thanking some friends for their amazing and unwavering support. First off, Ann, Bruce, and Alice are friends in deed. They all stepped up to the plate when the chips were down for me, rolled up their sleeves and without their help I would not have made it through the Valley I was in when they came to my rescue!
Next up, I would like to thank some very special friends whom in more than one way have rallied their friendship around me through some challenging days. Knowing that I have such amazing friends truly humbles me and I am honored to count the following people among my friends – TopSurf, Sprezzatura, planetKnit, DevylGyrl, and StevoFC – you all rock and if there is ever a Friendship Hall of Fame – I am nominating each and every one of you. I love you all without measure and I extend to each of you a heartfelt thank you for all your love and support!
Now, that being said – I have some news to share. I had a date on Saturday night.
Yes, I will wait for you all to catch your breath and get yourselves back in your chairs…
I will admit it got off to an auspicious start – I was late, 5 minutes late. I left with what I thought was plenty of time, but snow and hitting every stinking traffic light red did not work in my favor.
Little did I know that the red lights were a warning! As in – STOP, do not pass GO, do not proceed! Well, I will not ignore obvious warnings in the future; trust me!
Anyways, I arrived 5 minutes late – and he was not sitting at the bar as we had prior agreed to do. MOREOVER, he was nothing at all like his photograph. He was bald and seriously older looking that he said he was. The first words out of his mouth were “You always late?” he said this after I had apologized profusely for being late! I let it slide and suggested we move to the bar, sitting alone at a table was not something I really wanted to do.
The next volley was shot about 3 minutes after we had sat down – What did I have against NASCAR…yes, he said it. I laughed, and tried to change the subject to OTHER sporting events, you know football, basketball, etc. No offense to any NASCAR fans, but I am not sure that driving a car around a circle is a sport, just sayin’. Imagine my laughter when he came out with this one, “don’t you know what great shape they are in?” Seriously, I almost fell off the damned bar stool.
Oh… and while we are talking about sitting at the bar – FYI, while I drank Guinness, he drank a Faux Beer – AKA, Miller Lite or some such pseudo beer.
Anyways, back to “The Date” the conversation flowed to golf; which was on the television – The Bob Hope Classic, that is. Here is where I learned that he has a horrible temper – yes, he readily admitted that he hates being a looser and has thrown golf clubs at things. Yeah, I made ANOTHER mental note and moved the conversation on.
This is when the next volley was fired – “I just have to tell you, you are really much better looking than your photograph” I thanked him and replied that was funny because I did not think he looked like his photo either! I swear I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing hysterically!
Dinner was next on the agenda, and I am happy to report he does not eat vegetables. Great!! A bald cave man! He ordered the side of beef and I had fresh lake perch with ancho chile infused Cole slaw. It was delicious. With dinner, the conversation of wine came up – and he started it, so I felt it was only fair to partake, but I did not go in for the kill. I should have, but I did not. He informed me that he does not drink wine and does not understand people who do. Beer is his drink of choice (or rather Faux Beer – and yes, by this point in time he had been to the bathroom, oh maybe 5 times…) either that or a seven and seven. I now felt like I was in the Twilight Zone, LOL.
From here, the conversation went to foods and yes, he reiterated that he did not eat many of the things I did. On his banned foods list:Veal, Lamb, Oysters, Seafood, Fish, Vegetables, Most Fruits…, and he did not know what Nutella was. Yeah… another mental note and this one moved to the top of the list.
Speaking of things he did not know – he actually asked me what NPR was. Yes, you read that right – he had never heard of National Public Radio – now I am just going to tell you that he lives in Twin Lake, Michigan… home of Blue Lakes Fine Arts Camp – and Blue Lake Public Radio. You guessed it; he was clueless on those as well. But, he shared with me that he had read my profile and seemed to have it memorized – now, one would think that if you spent that much time on something you’d do some research before meeting the person, right?
At some point in time, the topic of music came up and from here, the train derailed and there was no getting it back on track again. He only likes; and yes, you guessed it Country. And, here is where he hung himself – he asked me if I liked Kid Rock, I said, no, I did not to which he told me that “Equal time was fine, on his time, his music” I thought he was kidding, so I laughed – expecting him to join in. I was the only one laughing. He then reminded me that I said I was “open-minded.” I tried to insert that being “open-minded” was, in my not so humble opinion, a two-way street. That was as well received as my laughter at his outlandish statement. Yeah, ‘nuf said.
Suffice it to say that NASCAR watching, Harley Riding, Country Music Listening, Non-Reading men are definitely off my list.
I am back to the drawing board…and it looks to be a wild ride!
The year has ended and a New Year holds open the door of opportunity.
The possibilities lay before me, beckoning me like a clean sheet of paper wanting to be filled with words, thoughts, and ideas.
The year does not begin without some trepidation, there are changes happening at work that will have an effect on me but I had a very frank conversation with a friend in which I wallowed a bit in self-pity and he said “will you stop talking your self down – grrr. Kathy – do what you do best… and that will win through,” I am going to take his advice and not let what is coming affect me.
So as I begin my journey into 2009 I invite you to come along with me…there are certain to be changes, there are guaranteed to be laughs and some new faces, but above all there will be joy in the journey.
