Deborah a year and a day in my life

This Sunday once again I could not get a copy of the St. Petersburg Times newspaper, the vending machines were empty and several stores that usually sell it did not have any, in fact 2 sales clerks said they haven't had that paper in about 3 weeks.

I think we may have lost our distributor for this area I am so disappointed as I enjoy reading the St. Pete paper more than our local paper, the lifestyle and arts section are chockful of listing for museums, concerts, opera etc.

Yes I can read it online its just not the same, and what about the funnies and the sales papers and the coupons. This sucks.

So far I have avoided reading the local paper by taking my time reading online the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

This week the book sections include listing of the best books of the decade, and/or the year 2009, I have read several in from the fiction and non fiction list, and found a few that I will look for.

Speaking of books I received the 3 books I bought online that I have on my GoodReads to be read list, though I could have checked them out of the library, I decided to buy these 3, The book by Alice Steinbach is a follow up book to the Without Reservations that I read and quite enjoyed, the other 2 books about authors she mentioned in the book and after researching the authors I decided on the 2 books pictured for a start, but I think I am going to by a few of the Stark books.

just 3

The weather is quite cold, below freezing last night and the same forecast for tonight, my plants are covered today and I will keep them covered all day rather than uncover them to keep in the warmth. This morning I postponed my walk (it was too frigid)so I will walk later in the day and I guess for the next week or two.

The photo of the bracelets below I have been wearing for the past week or so, the beaded bracelet looks like a wreath and was a gift from my friend K, I really like the green cube beads. The pewter cuff Holly bracelet is from the Kirk Stieff flower of the month collection.

cubes

Holly

Well let me post this so I can get my walking in for the day than I guess sit down and read the local paper with a cup of hot tea.

The new year here in central Florida has begun with a very rainy day. I am not surprised, the weather was out of whack all through last month. This is usually our dry season so some of my end of year garden task have been thrown off. On the other hand everything is still blooming beautifully so a nice trade off, and the rain is always welcome.

I am beginning my 3^rd year of this blog and no one is more surprised than I am that I have kept at it this long. I was purging old email files over the last few days and I came across several accounts that I created and quickly abandoned of the top of my head I can name a few:

Live Journal-I began blogging there about a week or so before Vox and I literally forgot it. I suppose I should have just copied and pasted everything from this blog onto it but I have enough trouble getting Vox to cooperate most times.

Word Press-I honestly forgot about this one after my 3 post a year before my Vox blog. I suppose I just didn't have much to say at the time.

3 Garden blogs-through different gardening sites abandoned easily.

3 Health and fitness blogs-on 1 I made entries for 6 months.

Tuesday Things-after my second entry I just forgot to make Tuesday entries even with the icon right there on my blog site so I deleted it.

Twitter-no comment

There have been others I created before and after my Vox blog, most I deleted shortly after creating them I suppose at the time I wasn't ready to share my simple daily life.

I was still writing faithfully in my personal journals and once while reading back over the pages I noticed there was no fluff, everything on those pages was so serious.

I kept separate hand written journals for crafts, gardening, workouts and a personal diary. With the exception of the personal journal all of the hand written journals have been abandoned.

2010 I begin year 3 of my journey to recycle, reclaim and reinvent the best parts of me.

The new calendars are hanging, the rain falls steadily outside, my coffee cup is empty so I guess its time to start my day.

I spent the last day of 2009 at home relaxing, doing a few things that I enjoy, reading the newspaper, started reading a new novel, I went for an early morning walk and did some light house cleaning.

Earlier this evening I was outside basking in the glow of the Blue Moon and saw several falling stars.

I enjoyed a nice cocktail and than decided to turn on the computer so I could stay awake till midnight.

Happy New Year!

Sunday morning breaks with a winter gray sky and brisk cold air, I had planned putting off my walking for this weekend but my body had other ideas and was calling out for exercise this morning so off to the track I went.

I am thinking of a new walking/exercise program for myself, I'm getting tired of the same old trail even alternating the direction I walk has become somewhat dull.

I now have a neat little pedometer to measure my steps, miles, time etc. I just need to read the set up instructions and I'm all set.

step by step

Another neat little surprise and an easy favorite is the covered mug, I have to say its been years since I had one and I love it. My bedroom is quite cooler than the rest of the rooms and my tea, coffee, cocoa gets cold halfway through, with the lid I can keep it hot a while longer, I hadn't seen a covered mug in years so I thank my dear friend for finding it. It even comes with a mesh tea ball and I do love my tea.

put a lid on it

This other mug is just so typical Florida its fun, and I love the sentiment because it says it all.

very floridian

Lately without my glasses I can't read a thing, can't find the holes in my beads and I can't thread a needle to quilt.

I have been a bit lax in my healthy diet this last month and I really need to better balance my diet. I know now that almost no fat in a diet can be as bad as too much and I need to add more protein preferably on a daily basis. I also need to add more foods with potassium, which I tend to lose quickly.

So what I thought was a healthy diet in the past: veggies and fish or chicken, mostly just veggies and fruit will be improved on this year for a better healthier balance.

I am halfway through reading Stephen King's Under the Dome and I am enjoying the book.

Nearly weighs 4 pounds so every time I pick it up I get a little workout.LOL

So let me make another cup of tea and read a few 100 pages.

Yesterday my son and I went to the movies to see Avatar (in real 3D

whatever that is supposed to mean). I was not impressed. The plot was the same old corporate greed, the violence solves everything mentality, the you have what we want so instead of asking for some we are going to take it all as destructively as we can. The same old not so subtle political, moral, and social messages shoved in to entertain the audience.

Someone told me the director of this Avatar waited 15 years to make it because the technology for his vision wasn't available yet, I can understand that, however, it's too bad he wasted it on the same old tired plot.

The alien world created was wonderful and I would have enjoyed just watching the beings on this creative planet live their day to day existence the creation of this world was imaginative and worth watching.

The 3D effects were at times fascinating to see, and than at times annoying and just fell short of the effect it was supposed to give. The most annoying part was having to wear the 3D glasses, when one hears real 3D you expect to see it on screen as 3D without the aid of glasses.

The plot was predictable and weak not to mention lacked imagination I mean really Unobtainium what the F! It's too bad the writers lacked the intelligence and fell short on imagination to match the 3D effects with a better plot.

My last word Albatross would have made a better title.

Peace

On

Earth

Goodwill

For

Everyone.

Yulefairy

No matter how it is said

My wish to all:

Hyvaa Joulua!
Joyeux Noel!
Fröhliche Weihnachten!
Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
Buone Feste Natalizie!
Feliz Navidad!

Καλα Χριστουγεννα!

С Рождеством!

Feliz Natal!

聖誕快樂 新年快樂!

Merry Christmas!

After a few brisk days and scraping ice off my windshield in the morning the temps are warming up.

We didn't have freezing temps but I covered some of my plants to keep them safe and warm, however one of the neighborhood cats or a stray decided to leave its scent on two of the covers so I tossed them, its quite irritating, last year the cats were using several of my pots for a litter box so later today its off to the sporting goods store for some large animal scent to keep the kitties away kind of marking my territory, and if that doesn't work I am thinking bear trap. (just kidding) a wolf trap will do just fine.

This year is fast coming to an end and we are gifted with a Blue Moon on the 31^st a fitting end to 2009.

I am giving thought to the things I want to accomplish personally in 2010, writing up a list of the things I need to change, and purge and add to my life,  if there are items still left undone from '09 I will review those and decide if completing them would add to my quality of life.

The one thing I plan to add to the new year new me list is to once again read authors I have never read before, if memory serves I wanted to read at least 7 new authors this year, I am happy to say I read over 20 new authors in 2009, a combination of fiction and non-fiction books. So this year I will make my goal number 12.

I was finally able to get a flu shot today I was picking up a few things at Walgreen's and right there in front of my face was a big yellow sign FLU SHOTS TODAY,

I don't know whether its allergies, my living space or stress but there have been too many days I feel under the weather and icky.

I have a few ideas I am working through in my head involving a new personal walking program I will post more about that into the new year.

Happy Winter Solstice To All

As the wheel of the year makes another turn let peace, happiness and good will be spread throughout all lands.

Merry Yule!

Solstice

I went out to get my newspapers this morning and could not locate a copy of the St. Petersburg Times anywhere, the few vending machines had no copies and 3 stores didn't have any, so I settled for the Orlando Sentinel and our local paper, yes thats a disappointed sigh.

A snowy Sunday for the northeast and I am fighting the urge not to jump in my car and drive north, I will have to settle for the weather here in Florida today its cold, the low 40's this morning. I will leave you with a poem from one of my favorite poets.

DUST OF SNOW

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

~ Robert Frost

Well my day started off on the wrong foot but I wasn't about to let it rule my mood. This morning my trip to the post office had a little glitch when I stepped out of my car with my bag of packages to ship I reached for my purse and it wasn't there so back into the car and the short drive home to retrieve the purse.

I had put it down to slip on my sweater, grabbed the bag of packages and forgot my purse. What a scatter brain I was this morning LOL. I headed for one of my favorite service stations for some coffee than home to complete a few household chores before a few hours of cookie baking.

I began baking around noon and have several dozen cookies baked and in containers. So far I have peanut butter blossoms, oatmeal with raisins, and chocolate chip with extra chips. Later this evening I will bake the plain oatmeal and tomorrow I will make the shortbread, peppermint drops, the pfeffernusse and plain peanut butter.

Here are some photos of the first batches baked goods cooled and waiting to be packed into containers. I think I will have some leftover lasagna for dinner, read for an hour or so before I bake the oatmeal cookies.

chocolate chip

oatmeal raisin

Yes that is a Hershey's chocolate kiss stuck in the middle of the peanut butter cookies and it is quite tasty.

All of the cookies are made from scratch, no mixes, no slice and bake, I used real butter, whole milk, eggs etc. and my favorite Watkins vanilla extract for the full homemade flavor.

peanut butter blossoms