10 Day Challenge - A Look Back

I did it.
I challenged myself to pick a thing, anything ... just something, and do it for 10 days in a row.
I picked cake.

In the middle of my 10 day challenge my mother called. She has a pattern - if I haven't called her in 5 -7 business days she will call me.

"Just want to check in ... see how y'all are doing ... Daddy and I are fine ..."
Then, "What have you been up to?"
She knows I've been up to something because I haven't called her lately.

pause ... "I've been baking pound cakes "
silence ... then, "Ok ... why are you doing this?"

Rather than even begin to attempt to explain the search for my missing mojo to my 80 year old mother I tell her I'm taking them to shut-ins.

 ... pause ... she's thinking ...

"Well, Pat, I just think that is so nice!"

Suddenly its a-ok that I haven't called! I'm doing something worthy! 
The cloud of guilt I felt suddenly parted and there appeared not only sunshine but a great big rainbow!! I can hear her explaining to my daddy, "She hasn't "not called". She's been busy!"

She called again a couple of days later. "I just think it is so nice, Pat, that you are making those pound cakes for shut-ins."

Truth be told, I don't know many shut-ins. But I did bake pound cakes and I did give them away. I gave myself a challenge and I proved to be up to it.
And in the meantime it made my mother very happy.

Why Do We Share?

I'm more active on social media these days and I wonder why. Up til now I've been timid of activity on facebook. Most folks don't give a flying fig about the comings and goings of their facebook friends. My friends, for the most part, are, like me, voyeurs - rarely posting but always looking. My sudden surge in social media activity could be related to the fact that the sun hasn't shone all summer for more than 3 days in a row (my husband is counting) or I've had more than a week or two at my own home and am not needed elsewhere.

So, after days in the house, alone, I reach for the laptop. And as I reach for the laptop, I realize I am ... reaching out. I feel a disconnect. I want to reconnect. So ... (deep breath) ...  I begin to share. Thus far nothing I've posted has brought ruin to my household or disdain to my family, so I'm breathing easier now.

In kindergarden sharing was one of the first lessons we were taught. We learned that sharing is taking the high road on the trip toward the greater good; accusations of being selfish would bring a tot to tears. We practiced this lesson; albeit some of us more than others.

Years ago upon moving to a new town and a new cul-de-sac, I watched my young son giving away his pixie stixs to neighborhood children who had appeared to check out the new kids on the block. His careful one-by-one doling out of his beloved confections to one grubby hand after another is forever branded in my brain and heart. He had lived all of four years on this planet, most of the time as a pure-tee hellion, but had learned that to get along in the cul-de-sac, a kid would be wise to share.

His sharing continued and we continued to wonder. This kid was compelled to share. On awards day in kindergarden he received a ribbon for a small-tyke athletic achievement. A classmate and on-the-playground competitor of his was devastated that he did not win the award. My son, five years old by that time, and deeply feeling the heartbreak of this other brat child, simply walked over to the child and gave him the ribbon. No thought, no hesitation, no remembrance of playground bullying - he just shared. His generosity apparently blew away the teachers and the principal, as at a later date he was given a better, superior citizenship award extolling the virtues of being a nice guy.

So why do we share?  Do we feel elevated by sharing? Does it make us feel better about ourselves? Or is it that we really do care about the person or persons on the receiving end of our sharing?

My grandmother, well into her 80's and living entirely on her social security check of $585 a month, continually practiced care and sharing for "old, poor people". She never realized the irony of this. She didn't have material goods to share but she more than made up for it in sharing her care - in the form of a chocolate pie or a pan of biscuits. She also shared her opinions and pity her preacher or children or grandchildren who were on the receiving end of those opinions. But all the sharing was doled out with genuine care for others.

            Sharing nowadays in this social media centered world has a different connotation than the types of sharing of my young son and my grandmother, but I think it's all for the same reason.  We're not egotistical maniacs when we share what we had for breakfast or pictures of a family vacation. We want to be connected to others. We care about others enough to share with them.

10 Day Challenge ... Game On !!

Bake a pound cake a day for 10 consecutive days.
That's my challenge. I'll figure out what to do with all of them later.
Wish me luck.

Back in the Saddle

In an effort to get my mojo back ...
I'm thinking about a 10 day challenge. Just to see if I can do one thing everyday for 10 days. I made a list of  possible "challenges".
Below is my journal entry from yesterday.

10 Day Challenge

     pick a thing, do it everyday for 10 days

bake pound cake

put something on craig's list 

knit scarves

blog

take a youtube drawing lesson

walk, outside

ride my bike

read the Bible

listen to music

play the piano

pull weeds

take vitamins

copy a positive quotation into my journal

read an op-ed

I hope I decide to accept my own challenge; missing my mojo! 

Thought I'd used up all my stupid !

     I was perfectly lucid when I dumped the white dinner napkins into the washing machine along with a couple of old reddish place mats. The place mats, left behind by my sister-in-law after Thanksgiving, looked so old and ratty and faded that I just knew they couldn't possibly have any red dye left in them.  Thank you, God, that I didn't dump in all the white, monogrammed dinner napkins.
     I've washed, bleached, re-washed and re-bleached ... and am still left with that unmistakable pinky tint usually reserved for shamed underwear never to be worn except on those worst of days when there is nothing remotely clean left in the drawer.
     I'm working through the stages of stupid : 
1. Horror, shame, disgust - done.  
2. Making light of the situation - done.  After all, they are only napkins  - haha -  They are only pieces of fabric - lol - and it's only linen - omg - and it's only antique, hand-embroidered linen - ohmygawd !!
3. Trying to fix it - done. There's no more bleach at the grocery store.  ... sigh ...
4. Make sure it doesn't happen again - done.  I shall retain the services of a laundress. 
5. Forget the deed and move forward - working on it.
    note to self:: Find a laundress, references required.

Smoked Turkey Chowder

This is one thing to do with leftover turkey!  Turned out really good.  Butter, cream and a shot of sherry makes everything turn out "good"! 

Brown 1 large chopped onion and a pound of chopped carrots in 1/2 stick butter. I added 4 large whole cloves of garlic.   Stir in 3 - 4 T of flour; cook for a minute or two.  Whisk in 4 cans chicken broth; bring to a simmer.  Add leftover chopped turkey.  Cover and simmer.  Cook rice separately. My "inspiration" recipe called for wild rice but my post-Thanksgiving budget called for generic white rice.  Thus the compromise of a "blend".  Stir cooked rice into soup; add 1 cup heavy cream; bring to a simmer; turn down the heat and ladle it up!!

British Virgin Islands - Day 1

Home is a 36 foot Beneteau.  We slept aboard last night, still in the marina at Wickham's Cay.  Just had a boat orientation with a chap named Carlton, photos later as I can figure it out. Next task is chart briefing, then we're on our own.
Weather - cloudy
Forecast - haven't checked
Captain's mood - alert