Oven Cleaning the Green Way

I cleaned my oven yesterday. It is a totally Big Deal as it is not a "self cleaning" oven. Oh, if it only were! This is the same stove that was in the double wide trailer house that we lived in on our property while we built our current home. It's an old LP propane Kenmore that works just fine - but, you have to clean the oven the old fashioned way. It hasn't been really cleaned for 11 years. Now before you go all weird on me and accuse me of being a slob I have to tell you the the damn oven sort of self cleans itself whenever you bake in it. You know, stuff turns to ashes so it's really not seething with maggots or anything like that. Yesterday I cleaned it with some sort of spray that is pure lye based. It's nasty stuff. I tried using the vinegar in a boiling pan of water left in the oven overnight "green clean" idea but 11 years of gunk does not render itself to "green clean". It's spanking new looking now. But, I'll bet you anything I won't clean it again for another 11 years.

Modern Medicine

It snowed a little last night. A surprise in the night kind of snow. There is that comforted feeling that comes about from the realization of how buffeted from the elements one can be, all snuggled in a warm bed. Entwined with that one person who is as familiar with your life as you are.

There hasn't been a lot of that entwining business going on here for the last week until last night because of the Illness. I thought I'd go to work yesterday because I was feeling like the Illness might be leaving me. I was wrong. Started the "Zpack" antibiotic and some kick ass steroids yesterday and I just about feel human again. Does anyone else ever think about how many times they might died in their lifetimes without the miracle of modern medicine?

It looks like it will stay cloudy today. I will hang out some sheets later if it doesn't snow/rain and knit on my sweater and be grateful for kick ass modern medicine.

Scrub Oaks and Restoration

Sick. I've been sick since Sunday with a cold. Bleh. Cough, cough, cough. Makes me regret the day I threw away that old bottle of codeine cough syrup that had been hiding out in the back of the medicine chest. I think it would have helped even as old as it was. I've tried to knit a couple of times but just don't have the concentration for it and ended up unraveling as much as I knitted.

This morning instead of futile knitting the dogs and I took a little early March hike about. The bare scrub oaks are kind of lacey against the blue sky.

I'll go to work tomorrow. And feel restored. How fortunate I am!

Saturdays and Possibilities

It's so sweet to wake up on a Saturday morning after a week of workdays. Saturday just bursts with possibilities, don't you think? Even washing the bed sheets and hanging them out has promise. There are always those sewing projects, the garden, ideas for dinner, throwing a little hike in somewhere - these are stuff of Saturdays.

This morning the clouds are roiling about and it is windy and cold. My brother Tom and his new bride are coming tonight and will stay until Sunday. Tom - at 51 - was a total bachelor until he married Deborah last Fall. I am very happy for them - they just seem so right for each other. Tom has always been kind of a loner. He loves his family but really never went out of his way to visit us for heaven's sake. What would be the point? So, here comes Deborah who hales from a huge Hispanic family and is related to everyone in Pueblo. Family is important and she is quite responsible for orchestrating several family gatherings in the six months she and Tom have been married. She is exuberant - and I just get a kick out of her for that.

Have a wonderful full of possibilities weekend, all.

Long Weekends, Hiking, and Knitting

Sweet weekend all in all. Jessica and the grandkids came to visit Saturday and left Sunday. We had fun looking for elf doors in the "woods". At four, almost five, Evan really didn't think there was anything unusual about finding elf houses sprinkled around Grandma's farm. The matter of fact reaction surprised me a bit!

And, what a treat it is to have President's Day holiday. All day I've been grateful. A few times I caught myself thinking about work tomorrow - and promptly reminded myself to focus on the moment. We got up early and went into Canon City to do errands, came home and raked up the yard a bit, planned a few garden-y type projects. After lunch we took a hike and because Jerry was there - we ended bushwacking up the back of the property on deer trails through the scrub oak. Jerry loves a good bushwack.

I've started another knit project - the February Lady's Sweater which is a "big ass version of the February Baby's Sweater" originally patterned by the queen of knitting, Elizabeth Zimmerman. And - hey! - it's February!

Tandoori and Weight Watchers

So, I'm really into food this month. Cooking it and then tracking how many points in Weight Watchers lingo I've consumed. WW's point system is becoming a byword in my family. Even my 4 year old grandson, Evan, makes guesses about a food's point value. " Ah, yeah.. that's six points probbly. " It's actually been quite fun to try new recipes. I was in such a rut with my meals.

If you want to know the truth of it? I was very impressed with the Julie/Julia Project and started to cook with an adventurous attitude about a year or so ago. People who know me well know that I cook basics competently. You know, a mean leg of lamb. I have never been one to go to specialty grocers for anything. Shit, I live 50 miles from the nearest specialty grocer and there is no way I will spend a precious day off going to shop for FOOD, for heaven's sake. I still feel this way - but, it's fun to replenish the old spice jars with fresh content - and I can do that in Cañon City - and look at different ways to combine these with food.

I'm making some tandoori chicken thighs tonight. Page 184 Weight Watcher's New Cookbook. 8 points. Roasted green beans 0 points. Whole Wheat noodles 3 points. I haven't lost one single pound this week but haven't gained any, either.

Lasagna rolls and Rob Roy

I made a scrumptious new recipe tonight from Cooking Light - lasagna rolls with spinach, mushrooms and roasted red pepper sauce. Very nice. Actually I have been cooking a lot lately. I joined on line Weight Watchers and am enjoying making a shopping list and cooking food using some different ideas. Jerry has been liking the focus on venison - which we have quite a lot of in the freezer- it is very lean meat and flavorful. I don't really want to lose any weight but it would be nice if I could stop gaining weight, for Pete's sake.



And I drank red wine and watched Rob Roy for the umpteenth time. I love that movie, truly do. When Liam says in his gruff Scottish brogue, "Do ye know how fine ye are to me, Mary McGregor?" - well, I just melt. Who doesn't? I want to get to the loom and weave plaid, drink Scotch and have babies. Or rather, do the things that cause babies....

We are getting through the dark winter days. February is always wonderful as the sky is still rather light when I leave work, not dark like it is in November. It almost makes one think that after work walks with the doggies are just a minute or so away. Usually by the time I actually get in the door though, it IS dark. But the thought is there and very possible - and that is so uplifting to my heart.

Hoping you all are loving the dregs of winter. (BTW -were you aware that snowshoeing for a mere thirty minutes earns 5 activity points?? - that's practically a whole bar of chocolate!)