Rebuilding Life

 "White.  A blank page or canvas.  The challenge:  bring order to the whole.  Through design, composition, tension, balance, light and harmony."

                        Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George

I love these lyrics and they are very appropriate to life right now.  Things change rapidly these days and it is time for me to start rebuilding who I am.  That is something that has gotten lost in the mix over thepast decade.  This is both a very scary and a very exciting time in my life.  I am a blank page and will begin building from the ground up.  

Over the next few months, my focus will be on the following things:  finances, career, family, friends and happiness.  I will rediscover these things that I feel I have let go of.  While I am sad that I am at that point, meaning these things need a major overhaul, I am excited to start anew.  Hopefully I will be able to multitask and work on all of these cohesively.  

I am putting myself back in control of my own life, of my own happiness.  While I do enjoy seeing to it that others are happy, it is time for some self-care.  In the end, that will make seeing others happy all the more satisfying for me.  

There is a long road ahead, but I am ready for the journey.

That is all.

People - Nancy Wilson

 

I wanted to start the week off with a song by the late, great Nancy Wilson.  I listened to this album on the record player this past weekend and it has so many wonderful tracks on it.  The song "People" from Funny Girl is mostly associated with Barbra Streisand.  But Nancy's version is simply lovely and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Cooking is a passion

 Cooking is one of those things in life that I absolutely love doing.  And the older I get, the better cook I become.  We all have things that we do that relax us, and cooking is one of those things for me.  I love to get into the kitchen and create.  It's my art.  I can't draw or paint worth a damn, but I can cook.  That's one of the reasons my Facebook page gets filled with pictures of what I cook.  I love to share my passion with people and I feel very proud of the things I make.

I love cooking for others.  It's been awhile since I've had people over for a meal, but I always enjoy it.  Of course, I love doing things like setting the table and making sure everything looks great, but it's the cooking for that is at the heart of entertaining.  The planning of the meals, the buying of the groceries.  I love it all.  I need more of that in my life!

The more experienced cook that I become, I am finding myself being a little more creative with things.  And this comes in the form of using what I already have in the fridge or freezer or cabinets.  Trying to keep my cooking cost effective by thinking ahead.  Yesterday, I created what I call a Bob's cobb salad.  I called it that because it was not the traditional cobb salad, yet one I made using what I had.  Also, I don't like blue cheese, so it wasn't going to be traditional right off the bat LOL  But, I enjoyed finding ways to creatively use the ingredients that I have on hand.  It saves me money and it feeds my creative soul.

Cooking is one of my passions.  I wish I had started cooking at an earlier age and that I could have soaked up more of what Mom and Grandmother taught me in the kitchen, but I sure did get a good bit of knowledge from them. And when I'm cooking, they are with me.  And that is important.

That is all.

Quote of the week

 I found this to be inspirational and appropriate for me right now.  Good advice that I intend on listening to!  

Cutting back time on Social websites

 Being on the internet has always been fun, especially over the last few years.  It was one thing that made the pandemic bearable.  But, as life continuously changes, it's time for me to change with it.  One of the things that I have decided to change is the amount of time that I spend on social websites.  There are several reasons for this.  One is that, simply put, I spend far too much time on the internet and there are so many other things I could be doing.  The other one is that I need to be more present in real life.  The internet is a great escape, but I have found myself to be escaping too much.  I want to be more active in my life and one way to help with that is to limit my time on these sites.

I am maintaining my Facebook account.  There are simply too many people that I actually know on there to let that one go.  However, I'm not going to be on there for hours at a time.  That's also one of the reasons I do not, and have no intention of, putting FB messenger on my phone.  That's pushing it too far for me LOL  But I have a handful of other sites that I participate in and I just need to cut back.  At first, I thought I would delete the profiles all together, but I decided against that.  One day, I would like to revisit them and don't want the headache of creating new profiles.  And hopefully by the time I get back to them, I will be able to do some serious updating of myself on there.

But, this is a challenge that I am going to enjoy simply because it will help me to do other things with my time.  Who knows, I may even get myself out of the house LOL  Like I said, I'll return to them one day, just not today.

That is all.

Recipe of the week - Shrimp Salad

 I love shrimp!  I always keep my eyes open for sales on shrimp at the grocery store.  Usually it's bogo on frozen shrimp, which is just fine with me!  Fresh shrimp is wonderful but as I do not live at the coast, it's a bit more expensive so I don't usually get that.  Anyway, I'm always looking for new ways to make shrimp.  I came across this recipe in an issue of Our State magazine.  I copied it onto a card and tucked it away in one of my recipe boxes a long time ago and pulled it out recently and decided to try it.  I was quite pleased with the results and will definitely add this to my recipe repertoire!

Shrimp Salad

1 lb cooked large shrimp*

1/2 cup Mayo

1/2 cup thinly sliced celery

2 Tbsp finely diced red onion

2 Tbsp chopped parsley

2 tsp Old Bay

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp Worcestershire

1/8 tsp cayenne (optional)

Mix all ingredients and chill for 1-3 hours.  Serve over greens w/lemon wedges.

*the original recipe leaves the shrimp whole.  I chop mine and the salad can double as a dip that way.

Enjoy!

Recipe of the week - Pepperoni Dip

 Awhile back I bought a large bag of pepperoni at the grocery store that was on sale.  You know I love a good sale at the grocery store LOL  Anyway, it sat in the freezer for a long time and I decided that I would take it out and use it and free up some space in the freezer.  Well, I looked for recipes online and found several that used pepperoni that I have enjoyed.  This is one of my favorites!

Pepperoni Dip

1 8oz block of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup of sour cream

1 cup chopped pepperoni*

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp parsley

2 green onions, sliced**

1 cup shredded mozzarella

Combine all into a bowl.  Once combined, transfer to serving dish and chill for several hours.  Serve with crackers or pita chips.

Enjoy!

*you can cut back the pepperoni to 1/2 or 3/4 cup

**3/4 cup of chopped roasted red pepper or pimento works as well