Genuine January, 2016

[paulywogg]

Morning friends, Lav,I usually only eat next day leftovers and throw the rest out,with all these kids and hubs,there's rarely any anyways, dry cough now so I think I just caught Lou's and Bradys sickness, Bradys been sick all week,missed 2 days of school,yikes! Louie seemed better yesterday though,he was back to his pleasant self but still coughing and runny nose,Winslow seems better too,I was sad he was sick but his tummy sounded so funny I couldn't help but giggle,seen on the news this morning that they're giving dogs Prozac for separation anxiety, that's weird,I also seen on "The Doctors" they're giving ADs to toddlers for tantrums, what is this world coming to? I forgot about the doctors episode until just now,Star,I STILL haven't made the zucchini soup,the sausage is still in the freezer, gonna hafta go back to Nov thread and dig up the recipe,Dill,I can picture you as a female Mr.Rogers,you have such a sweet,docile personality it seems,very gentleCyn,what kind of dogs do you have? I have pics of Winslow on my mirror at work and people always ask what kind he is,I just say I really have no clue,some kind of terrier mix with an attitude haha,I want another Weiner dog but no,I have enough on my plate right now,alrighty gotta get ready for work, actually not dreading a Monday for once after being on the couch for 2 days,have a great day

[treegirl]

Morning all -

Lav, good luck with getting out and about. I hope Curves is ready for you when you get there! Holy Cow - 60 hours on duty, and they expect your son back tomorrow? That's amazing - I hope is doing what he can to take care of himself...

Pauly - hope you are feeling better -- no fun having a bug.

Star - French Onion soup recipe, please! HB loves that soup, but I never make it because of the time letting the onions caramelize. A crock pot version would be perfect. RE: MBSR, I am reading the book and doing the 15 minute 'follow the breath' meditation. I find it incredibly hard to drop the 'striving' attitude (I must do this better/perfectly); to see things and acknowledge them and let them go. I'm seeing how much self-judgement I bring into every micro-second. I have yet to follow more than maybe 2 breaths in sequence; so I'm recognizing monkey-brain, but trying not to get down on myself about it. I just read about the Body Scan, and I look forward to experiencing that. My neighbor is just starting the book, so pretty soon I expect we will be practicing together and sharing our experience.

Dill - glad you had a good time with your gdaughter, but glad that you can rest now. RE: Mr. Rogers; I thought it was interesting in the article that some people think it was suspicious that he always wore shirts and a sweater and tie; then reading that it was his way of keeping an air of formality and respect about the show. I loved that - I think he understood balance and compassion and boundaries better than almost anyone else ever on TV. I would consider it a huge compliment that people called you Mr Rogers! But of course, that is no surprise...

Well, doggy food supplies need replenishing in a hurry, so I'm off to shop, cook and puree. Then to update my work website - my business plan is coming into sharper and sharper focus, and I need to have the website reflect that. Progress? Hope so.

Wishing all a great AF start to the week - to the Light!! (starlight and moonlight and sunlight...)

[dill]

Hi friends, you all sound like you are busy and positive. Such a gift to be free and present, isn't it?

I was reading about carmelizing onions today on the internet and apparently doing them in the slow cooker is a fuss-free option. It sounded simple enough: halve then slice 3-4 lbs regular cooking onions (not sweet onions). It should be approximately 6 cups. Drizzle 3 TBS olive oil or butter over them and toss them to coat. The crock pot should be at least 1/2 to 3/4 full. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Longer is ok. It makes approximately 3 cups. I've been wanting to try this for awhile so when I do, I'll let you know how it works out for me. I want that French Onion soup recipe too, Star, if it isn't too much trouble.

Cyn, Lav, Star, and Pauly, have a peaceful AF night.

[SnoopyC]

Good morning ladies...

Well, I carmelize the onions before I put them in the crockpot, usually at 6:30 am! With a little butter, 3-4 onions in a pan, cook on low about 30 minutes, stirring till they turn a lovely brown. About 20-25 minutes in I put in chopped garlic cloves, too, for a real antioxidant soup. Then spray the crock pot, put in the onion/garlic mix, 32 oz beef broth, add some water and cook on low all day. Put in an oven safe bowl, toasted bread and cheese, bake. It is a meal in itself. Really good.

Hey, gotta go, hello to all. Have a good one.

[dill]

Good morning friends,
Star, thanks so much for the recipe. I am going to try the crockpot carmilizing overnight and in the morning pour in the beef broth and continue as you described. Should be awesome! On the internet they describe that towards the end of the carmeliing if you prop the lid open a bit it encourages the browning color as some of the liquid cooks off.

Lav, Cyn, Pauly, have a good day!

[Lavande]

Good Tuesday morning friends!

I miss French onion soup with all that cheese & saltiness but just can't manage it anymore, oh well. Enjoy!

Schools are still closed around here, the roads are crappy & there's no where to park due to the snow mounds. I made it to Curves yesterday but they weren't open yet. I had an email from them this morning saying they will only be open from 9-11:30 this morning. Not sure yet if I am going because we are now getting freezing rain warnings

I think I may go hide in my shop area, YB is grumbling about being stuck here because his college is closed again today as well, ha ha!

Hello to Dill, Star, Pauly & Cyn!
Have a marvelous AF day!

Lav

[treegirl]

Morning all -

Quick hop on here - lots to get at early this AM, HB is coming home for an overnight before heading back into NYC (which is a mess!).

Thanks for the recipes, Dill and Star. I might try it at some point, just as a gift for HB. I could have the soup, but not the bread or cheese, a la Lav... sometimes I get tired of cooking things I can't eat!

Lav - sorry about Curves, and freezing rain - on top of all that snow? Oh no! Good luck with mr grumbly, ha!

Pauly - glad to hear you feel better. Keep it going!

Wishing all the gift of being present today --

[paulywogg]

Hello friends, my stomach bug sent to my head now,cough,sore throat,runny nose I think Brady and Lou got me sick,oh well this will pass,all this talk of food has made me hungry so gonna go find something to munch on,Lav,Dill,Cyn and Star,I hope we all have an easy Tuesday

[dill]

Hey Lav, if Mr. Grumbly pants can't handle a couple of days at home, what the heck is he gonna do when he retires?!! You better start making some plans for yourself, pronto! LOL!

Cyn, I think the onion soup without the cheese and bread would be delicious! Have a good visit with Mr. Tree.

Pauly, wow, you just can't seem to get a break lately! All I can say is I wish you a speedy recovery, and I'm sending you some virtual chicken soup!!!

Found a very cute, humorous and quirky show on netflix called The Detectorists. If you are looking for something light, take a look.

[Lavande]

Well ~ the good news is the freezing rain never arrived, yay!
I don't know who got it, just glad it wasn't me.

Cyn, I will think of something we can eat, promise, ha ha!
I hope your Hb appreciates you & all the work you do.

Dill, are you starting to get an idea of what I have to deal with here? We are talking about my 3rd child I think
How can any intelligent adult be so helpless/hopeless? He had better shape up real fast or I will be kicking his butt straight back to the shrink's office. I am not going thru all this AGAIN. GEEZ!!!!
I have absolutely no trouble filling up my days, do you? Probably not because we think about things & other people as we go about our lives. This one focuses primarily on himself. Ugh.

Pauly, you need some real good bone broth full of healthy nutrients to build up your immune system. This is the one I make all the time:
Nourishing Chicken Bone Broth In A Slow Cooker
I roast a big (store bought) chicken, strip the meat off for dinner & leftovers & toss the carcass in the crockpot with water, ACV, veggies, herbs, etc but no salt. I let it slow cook all night & into the next afternoon for a good 17-18 hours. Then you strain it, adjust the seasonings to your liking. You can turn it into chicken noodle soup or just use it as is. It is delicious & healthy!! Leave all the peels on the onions, garlic & carrots - it gives the broth a nice color. Give it a try, it's easy & everyone will love it Feel better soon!

OK, my plans for tomorrow keep changing. At first I was asked to go watch my grandsons at 8 am until they both go to school. Now I am being asked to be 'on call' to come over at 10:30 because the kids have late school & my son may or may not be home in time to take over. Anyone else confused??? HA HA!

Peace to all tonight!

[SnoopyC]

Good morning ladies...

Still trying to wake up. Lav, that bone broth recipe sounds so good, I may make it this weekend, but it is supposed to be 50 degrees on Saturday, can you believe it? I would probably be able to keep myself busy all day too. I could exercise every day, and find other things to do and relax a bit too. However, I do like my job and the people I work with, so much. Sorry that YB is crabby, what a nightmare if he is home all day. Yikes. Why is he retiring? Could you suggest he work a little bit longer? He can't be that old.

Dill, glad you like the recipe, cooking for a long time, the broth is just sooooo good. I think it would be good without the cheese and bread, too. Hey, I watched Downton Abbey and the costumes were so beautiful. I miss my friend, as we used to talk about the program. I did find a lady at work who watches it too, though, so that is good.

Cyn, you are so generous to cook so many things you can't eat. That would be tough for me. How have you been feeling? I started salads for lunch this week, with homeade dressing and feel better already. I need to get up a little earlier and start meditating and some yoga. It is hard when it is so dark and cold. This is a tough time of year.

Pauly, so sorry you are sick again. I had some winters like that in the past and it was not a fun time. Lav's soup sounds good to me. Feel better soon.

OK, off to make breakfast and get to work. Have a great hump day. February names: Fabulous, Funny, Funky, Finding, Freedom in, let me know what you thinnk.

[paulywogg]

Morning friends,Star I like Fabulous Feb.that's one of the ones I was thinking since we mainly try and focus on positive living here,not so much about living booze free as Freedom Feb implies,although we are AF,I'm glad its not our main topic of discussion all of the time,now that I've gotten some time in,AL thoughts and how to avoid drinking,and drink situations have sort of taken a back burner,of course I'm always on guard but if I had to read every day a thread where everyone is struggling I think it would mess with my head,does that even make sense? Its early so I'm delusional and don't know why I brought that up,I guess I had thought of that in the past and wanted to mention it still sick,my chest is gurgling and everything above the neck is in pain,no fever though but some very strange dreams! I wonder if Louie was having nightmares whenhe was sick cuz Kell said he was waking up screaming all night,could be,he was so extra cute last night but Nana P was a zombie hello Cyn,Dill,Lav hope we all have a wonderful Wednesday

[treegirl]

Morning all -

Lav, I don't know how men have time to be bored and unhappy! Mr Tree is rarely unhappy, but he is manic, and has to be doing something all the time - that's OK by me. He is a mad scrabble player, and when he is done with his work (which doesn't seem to take too long) he always has 2 games going. Plus, he is a news-aholic. Not me! In fact, I've had to lay down rules for when he can 'share' news stories with me. 7 AM is too early.

So, you're supposed to roast the chicken before making the bone broth? Can one also just put the whole thing together in the crock pot? My vet actually suggested that I do that for the dogs - she felt that it would be healing for girl-dog's gut, and help their joints as well. Roasting it ahead would take care of my main concern with broth - the fat, which girl-dog can't have, hmmm. I'll give it a try.

I feel like I could work 12 hour days and not get everything done. But that must be mostly in my head. It's that Balance thing... I'm still working on it.

Star - I am feeling OK, but my low weight is still an issue. Tired of it. I'm off to the naturopath today for a health assessment, and will check in with regular doc next week. I eat a lot of great food, and plenty of good oils, so not sure what's going on. I'm sure eventually it will get figured out.

Dill - thanks for the tip on the Netflix show. I need light things to watch w/Mr Tree at night when he wants us to watch something together. Right now we're enjoying Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. She's a great character, and the series takes place in the 20s in Australia. It's worth watching just to see her incredible wardrobe! I did also watch 2 out of the 3 Bletchley Circle series. Did I mention that already? A little gruesome for me, but wow those lady codebreakers (probably based on fact) were seriously brilliant.

Pauly - sheesh, try and get well girl! Lav's immune boosting soup should do the trick.

Hope all have a safe, happy and AF day - Happy Hump Day (here's to you, Sooty).

[Lavande]

Good morning friends, happy Hump day too!

I had agreed to go watch my grandsons before school this morning but was cancelled & that's OK. I still may get a call to go over if my son is late getting home from work. Never a dull moment. I really need to work in a haircut sometime today & pay attention to the work that's piling up

Hi there Star & Pauly!
I would make that brother regardless of the outside temp this weekend. It freezes well & is wonderful to have on hand. It turns out the best when you stuff as many chickens bones in your crockpot as possible, ha ha. If I roast a chicken with a smallish carcass I will freeze it until I roast another then put both of them in the pot. This is a case of the more the merrier

Star, YB is 63 & honestly, this job is taking up too much brain space. Being a department head is a pain & he's on call 24/7. The college is undergoing a big change with a new president & some new VPs & he doesn't do change very well. He needs to learn to RELAX. He is not going to get under my skin, absolutely not!

Hello to Dill & Cyn, hope you are both doing well.

It's 36 degrees here so I hope we getting some melting going on later.
Have a great AF day everyone!

Lav

[dill]

Hello Friends, I too like Fabulous but I also like Freedom or even a combo: Fabulous Freedom February. That signifies to me that we have moved on beyond just freedom from alcohol, which is wonderful, but on to celebrating what that freedom has brought us.

,

although we are AF,I'm glad its not our main topic of discussion all of the time,now that I've gotten some time in,AL thoughts and how to avoid drinking,and drink situations have sort of taken a back burner,of course I'm always on guard but if I had to read every day a thread where everyone is struggling I think it would mess with my head,does that even make sense?

Hey Pauly, you are right on with that! You just described the thought process that went in to establishing this thread way back when! Still we are all human so we give each other the space to slip and get back on track with compassion and support. But we all decided years ago that we needed to focus on living af, not so much the struggle.

Star, I have been loving Downtown this season, too! I bet you do miss having your friend to talk with about it. I am going to miss it when this season ends. What a wonderful series. I hope your son's job search is coming along. Is he right in the same town as you or just reasonably close? As you know it is a 45 minute drive for me to my son's. How is your drive?

Lav, thanks for that thorough article on bone broth. It answered a lot of questions for me. I have been making broth from the carcass of the roasted chickens and turkeys over the years but have been giving the broth to my dogs instead of using it in recipes. I guess I should rethink that! LOL! But, the dog is healthy, so that's good, and she needs the proteins to augment her dry food.

Cyn, I am a fan of the Bletchley Circle series too! I haven't heard of the Miss Fisher mysteries. I'll look into it. The other day I tried Agatha Christy's Poirot the other day but it didn't appeal to me or Mr. D. The Detectorists is quite different and it has nothing to do with solving crimes. I will be curious to hear what Mr. T thinks of it if you ever get around to watching it with him. Of course I want to know what you think too! LOL! I hope your visit with your naturopath today went well.

Not much new here. I am trying to get back to some more normal activities now that the holidays are over so I have arranged a walk and lunch with a friend tomorrow and I'm organizing another meet up with another ex colleague for next week.

Have a peaceful af evening everyone.