December 30, 2018 – The end of the year wrap up.

         First, I want to say thank you to all my blog followers.  You’ve been so kind to keep returning to “slim pick in’s” when it comes to new blogs these last six months.  But, if you are new to my blog site, you’ve 462 blogs to wade through and some of that wading is a bit of fun.  I love comments . . .

         Well, I’ve done it again – I bashed my two small toes on my right foot dodging the cat running between my feet as I am carrying bed sheets to the laundry room.  I wrung it good on the leg of a chair.  Of course I am bare foot! Have I moved the chair?  Not exactly – but I have pushed it in further.  What will I do differently?  I am not certain – probably just stomp on the cat instead of busting up my toes.  I limped yesterday and today it is the ghastly shade of blue and green.  I can at least walk on it today. It has slowed me down a bit – but not stopped me like that hamstring pull did.

         I have already started some of my New Year’s resolutions in the last few days.

         Drum roll please . . . .

               I plan to finish all the craft projects I have half started and tucked here and there.  Once I get those complete – it will empty up storage space so that I can “breath” when I am putting things away.

               Less is more is my new mantra – and that is not in the diet or dress size quarter.  It is in the house – less plastic containers for leftovers.  I shall cook drastically less so that I don’t make left overs.  I am sick of eating leftovers and my husband turns his nose up at them.  My dress size does not require me to be a member of the “clean plate club”. So, I am done with leftovers for several reasons.  They clutter up the refrigerator and they clutter up the cabinets with those plastic containers. I tossed out all the plastic containers except for a few I have that are ½ cup size – which I find are the only ones I really use.

         And, the “green earth people” will hate me, but if I must save something for the next meal I need to just slip it into a plastic bag and “toss the dirty bag” the next day. Simple, efficient – done.

               As I go about my daily living . . . . toss out what I haven’t worn or used. Examples just today:  I have a pair of boots that I could save and use in the garden for about 1 day – but I wouldn’t be caught dead in public – and that includes wearing them to the trash dump.  I tossed them.  I felt liberated.  I bought a pair of pajama bottoms last fall – the new fabric, that soft knitted stuff.  They are so hot I can’t stand them. I can wear them about ½ hour and I then have to peel out of them.  I almost think I am allergic to the fabric.  I was putting clothes away and there that miserable pair of PJ bottoms was cluttering up my drawer. Out I tossed them and I was thrilled to the core.

               I have a bad habit of storing things in empty suitcases.  Whenever I need a suitcase for travel, I have to empty a suitcase in order to get out of town.  This morning I emptied one that held my dress making ham among other items.  Now, I am not tossing the ham . . . but the rest of the stuff – a ½ yard of this, a scrap of that, a bit of this, mostly useless stuff.  Out it went.  Suitcase is now flat and put up.  I will tackle one suitcase a day until I can nest all my empty suitcases inside each other.

               Old Christmas ornaments that have no sentimental value.  I had a collection of ornaments – nice ones – that I used on my office Christmas tree when I was out at the big title office.  Clients would drop in and I needed to “deck the halls”. I no longer have that office so I don’t need them anymore.  I have only been shuffling them around from closet to closet for the last decade.  I will box them up and donate them to next Church rummage sale. 

               As I come to a cluttered cabinet or closet – I will take the time to fix it then and there – being retired I’ve no pressing appointments. Yesterday I cleaned out and alphabetized the spice cabinet.  That felt nice.  Later in the afternoon, I was putting away a cookie sheet and I noticed that the darling husband had jammed my jellyroll pan in sideways.  I emptied the cabinet, wiped it out and jettisoned a few rarely used items.  I’m already on my second box for the church rummage and it is only day two.

               This year I will take more time to read down my library of books and then donate them to a resale bookstore.

               And the biggest New Year’s Resolution is that I am sick of not finding anything to wear in the stores. It no longer matters whether I am thin or fat – there is simply nothing I want to buy out there.  I don’t like skinny ankle pants – it makes my fat butt look the size of an armored truck.

         I hate the colors. I don’t like the clinging fabric.  You can have all this “stretch that you want” but having to constantly pull up your pants because the pants stretch too much is irritating. I hate the unflattering neck lines. I find everything is the wrong color or wrong cut or wrong type fabric – forget finding anything that fits.  The prices are ridiculous.

         But – you already see TV commercials for customized shirts for men and now customized t-shirts for men.  So, it is not just me that can’t find anything that fits – it is a universal problem and I know how to solve it.

         I have gone back to sewing clothes – haute courtier sewing.  I have already purchased the McCall’s M7279 Fitted Sheath Dress pattern.  I’ve marked every single line on white muslin and I have cut it out and hand sewed the bodice and skirt.  A friend fitted it for me and now I need to adjust the pattern in one or two places.  Now adjusted, I will create my base pattern template and then I will start to custom sew my own clothes to my sleeve length, to my hem length, to my color and, to my fabric selection.  Then, I can create an entire new wardrobe for myself as I use up the fabric I have in my fabric trunk - my colors, my styles, my necklines.

         I’ve already made a charcoal grey soft knit dolman sleeve top with front bodice top-stitching, three quarter sleeves and it skims my body right where it should and it is “oh-so-perfect” showing off my nice square shoulders.  And, the neckline – right where I want it - up around my neck so that my necklaces look right. It feels perfect on – I don’t have to tug at it or adjust it in any way when I am wearing it.  Trust me, nothing feels better than “custom fitted” clothes.

         The plan for 2019  is to make ten custom outfits that are perfect and then I might toss out everything in my closets – we shall see.  That is a real New Year’s resolution goal!

        

August 22, 2018 – Lost and Found in two acts

ACT ONE

Several days ago, I am looking for my cheese knife.  Yes, that knife I’ve had since our first apartment.  It was part of a gift of assorted cheese from around the world from some business associate of my husband.  My Mom had never had one and I found it a wonderful thing.

         You can draw it across a block of hard cheese, like extra cedar, and get a paper thin slice that will actually melt into the nooks and crannies of a just out of the toaster English muffin.

         Or, when you don’t have soft butter, you can sliver refrigerated butter so that it immediately melts on warm toast.

         And, I have had much luck with creating butter curls for special occasions and also creating chocolate curls with it.  The chocolate curls are more difficult, the chocolate bar has to be the right temperature to get nice curls. But, after a bit of practice, I find I can accomplish elegant chocolate curls to sprinkle on top of a decadent dessert for guests. Curls create the “WOW” factor, especially on chocolate mousse – I’ve a very old recipe that is wickedly easy and tastes decadent considering the simple ingredients.  I will post it at the end of this blog.

         That morning I searched in the drawers and in the crockery of my upright kitchen tools and could not find my well-used and beloved cheese knife.  I asked myself mentally, when did I use it last?  How curious – I wonder where it is.  I remember last seeing it in the shorter crock that holds my assorted whisks.

         Since retirement, this household has been a bit of lost-and-found or out-of-place or not-in-the-right place drama on just about a daily basis.  I wash the dishes and put them in the drainer to dry when I am busy, and my husband, comes along and puts them away when they are dry.  In the past couple of years, I have temporarily lost the beloved granny fork the silicon tipped tongs, the colander, or find the pot holders in the most unusual places.  Yes, he is being helpful, but it is driving me crazy that we don’t agree on the designated places for these often used items.

         I start a second search in my tool crocks, drawers, then glance at the shelf pegged with eye hooks that holds my most used utensils and it is a case of NO FIND.  Then, I remember that I actually bought a new one, a stainless steel one on half price sale a few months back and stashed it with the items I don’t use often in a drawer in my desk in the kitchen. 

I dig through that and pull out the new one.  I haven’t even taken the price tag off it yet.  I remove the sticky tag, wash it and proceed on my way.  I am saddened, where is my old one? I actually like it better than the new one.  Silly of me, it is more a matter of sentimentality then sharpness or service.

         Then suddenly, a few days later my rosewood handle cheese knife shows up. From where?

ACT TWO

         “What have you done with the coffee scoop?”

         I hear my husband call from the kitchen.

“I haven’t done anything – it should be right where it always is, on the tray,” I answer.

On the tray which is beside his fake sugar and his jar of ground coffee near the toaster and coffee maker.  I remember seeing it yesterday while I was wiping down the countertop. 

That morning I actually resented his accusation, “what have you done with it” – as if it is always MY FAULT instead of him saying, “Where is it, I can’t find it.”  But, I use the same accusations on him as well. [Simply terrible – two Yankees calling it as we see it!  But, we are used to it.]

         “It’s gone!”

         I wander out to the kitchen and look in all the drawers, in the gadget bowls and crocks and I don’t find it either.  All the time I am thinking it is strange, I tell him to use a spoon – a tablespoon.  He is perturbed.

         I hear muttering under his breath and I wonder, is this going to be a daily occurrence; something missing every day, day in and day out? The new norm – it will be tiresome.

         Hours later, I am at my desk and reach for a pen.  As big as brass – the coffee scoop is there.  I must have had it in my hand when the telephone rang yesterday and I carried it with me to my desk and set it down. 

That got me to thinking.  Where is the little silver coffee scoop I had engraved with our initials I bought for an anniversary gift years ago.  The end of the handle was in the shape of an acorn.  HMMMMMM – that constantly needed polishing and I put it away.  I guess I’ll need to dig for that, polish it up and get it nearby so that when we can’t find one scoop we have a backup.

         And, here I was trying to downsize, get things leaner, with the theory LESS IS MORE – and now I am thinking of duplicating things so that we can function without crisis. 

         I must be crazy!

Chocolate Mint Mousse

2 containers Cool Whip, defrosted 1 hour

One semi-sweet dark chocolate bar – 1 pound size*

1 oz. peppermint schnapps

Fresh mint leaves

Andre’s chocolate mint as garnish – or chocolate curls* – you can steal about 1/8 the of the bar above for this.

Melt chocolate bar and pour into an unheated bowl. Add schnapps and stir well. Add 1 container of Cool Whip and whisk thoroughly. Then, gently fold the second container of Cool Whip until no white streaks are showing.  Spoon mixture into a soufflé dish.  Refrigerate minimum of 4 hours.  Before serving, decorate the top with Andre mints and fresh mint leaves and/or chocolate curls.

This is easy with a deceiving taste and texture – great for buffets.

[*Create chocolate curls onto wax paper and refrigerate so that they easily transfer to finished mousse.]

January 12, 2018 – I’m like a steamroller these days!

         It is January and step aside; I’m on a cleaning spree. I’ve become inspired on how nice my drawers and cabinets look after I’ve cleaned the clutter out of them and pared down my assets.  That old phrase:  LESS is MORE is chiming in my head these days.

         I’m on a roll one might say. Today I started on my writing center.  OH MY – I am a paper rat and I simply took everything off the top of my desk and plunked it elsewhere.  I will be wadding through it in the next few days.

I started this project with the follow mantra:

 “Do I actually need this for anything?”

“NO,” I said. I flung it in the trash [or recycling].  It felt so liberating.

         I cleaned my top credenza file drawer and even went so far as to type large print labels for the folders.  I usually purge these files the week I have my taxes done, so I am way ahead of schedule.  I’ve the bottom drawer to do tomorrow. But, just pulling the drawer open I see it all neat with plenty of room and lovely labels.  It makes my heart sing.  Somewhere I found real motivation to tackle this project, yet I can’t seem to muster up enough to tackle some of my other life-changing projects as in “DIET and EXERCISE”.

         Recently Terry Ledford’s column in The Daily Courier entitled, “How much do you want it?” discussed motivation.  He says,

         “I learned a long time ago that I can’t help someone change unless they really want to change.  Even with the right motivation, it is hard, but without it is impossible.”

         That sort of sums up my losing weight – at the moment I feel it is impossible.  Does anyone care, except me if I look awful in the mirror?  “NO.” I say to the fat – OINK - reflection in the mirror.

Ledford sums up the concept:

“We may want it, but is that enough?  There is a huge difference between wishing and wanting something, and deciding to make it happen.”

I understand that and my wishing isn’t enough wanting at this point when it comes to dieting.  I am settling for just behave around food for a while and work on other aspects of my life.  My determination and my motivation just isn’t there at the moment because it is hard and I am not in the mood for hard.  It is going to take a lot more determination, dedication and motivation, which I can’t seem to pull out of thin air at the moment. 

Meanwhile, I am working on other areas where I seem to have enough determination to complete the small project and see great results.  Maybe if I see enough great results in these small matters, I will get around to the big one – diet and exercise.

Ledford’s article gave me additional food for thought – against the diet as well as for the diet.

Against the diet: Research is well-known that mastery of a skill takes about 10,000 hours of practice.  If you take 3 hours a day for diet, including shopping, preparing, and cooking, [and cleaning up] and that time also includes exercise and multiply it for a year – that is 768 hours invested.  10,000 hours equates to roughly 13 years.  Have I actually figured out how to correctly diet and exercise yet?  Not exactly, as I’ve never really been successful. Ten or 15 pounds doesn’t make me svelte.  Obviously, I haven’t mastered the skill or the life changes yet.

However, for the diet Ledford suggests:

“Make sure every step you take is in that direction.”  Every step we take either takes us toward or away from our goals.  The steps can be small, but if taken in the right direction, they will get us to our goals.”

So, that is where I am, just behave around food and possibly I can make small daily changes that will end up as big changes in the long run. Meanwhile I can look forward to a clean house, and being so organized I can easily locate those 3 hours needed for the life changing step of diet and exercise.

Ledford finishes it with a nice pep talk:

“If the goal is good, right and worthwhile, it is worth the effort to make it happen.  Change can happen, if you really want it.”

I’ll revisit this when I’ve gotten the rest of my life in order – hopefully that is all that I am lacking.