Random Thoughts on a Saturday Night

So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.  ~Sidney Poitier

Maybe it's laziness or maybe it's just an inability to focus tonight, but  all my thoughts about what to post are flitting around in my mind like a hummingbird going from one flower to another in the garden. Not being able to come up with a coherent topic, I have decided to list some of my random thoughts.  Not exactly stream of consciousness, but pretty close.  Here goes:

• Wathching NFL playoff games on TV with my family is a very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday.
• Meals cooked in a crock pot taste delicious and are almost effortless.
• Waiting for an amaryllis to bloom is rather like waiting for a baby to be born.
• Yahtzee is a boring game requiring little skill.
• If you play Yahtzee with someone you love it can be a lot of fun.
• Why do so many retired people move far away from their families and then spend half of their time going to visit them?
• Wearing socks to bed in the winter helps me get to sleep faster.
• Having chocolate candy in the house is not a good idea when you are trying to eat more healthfully.
• Grandchildren are one of the joys of getting older.
• There will never be enough time to read all the books I want to read.
• There will never be enough time to knit and crochet all the things I want to knit and crochet.
• Knowing that there are still books I haven't read and things I haven't knit or crocheted makes waking up every morning a wonderful adventure!
  

I Remember . . .

"Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were." ~Marcel Proust  

 I am happy to report that Proust was not completely correct in his assessment of our ability to remember things from the past accurately.  I went to a German restaurant for dinner tonight and relived Friday night dinners from my childhood.

I had a choice of sides to go with my Rindergulasch (German Beef Goulash). I chose red cabbage and potato pancakes.  Everything was delicious, but the potato pancakes provided me with a trip down memory lane.  Our standard Friday night dinner when I was young was tuna salad, applesauce, and potato pancakes.  I have ordered potato pancakes many times when eating out, but they never tasted like what I remembered from my childhood. Most of them were made with mashed potatoes and my mother always made them from grated raw potatoes.  She added a little onion, an egg, and some flour, and fried them quickly in a skillet until they were brown and somewhat crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.  Mmm!  They were so good! The potato pancakes I ate tonight were just like the ones Mom used to make. Eating them was like being transported back in time fifty years.  

Daily Commitment

I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the years'.  ~Henry Moore

For some time now I have begun each day with a mental listing of behaviors that I want to engage in  just for today. At the end of the day I review my list to see if I have been successful in achieving my morning goals.  What may seem impossible for me to accomplish in the long term--a month, a year--is often attainable  just for today. 


Here is my morning mantra:  Just for today . . .   

• I choose to be free of anger, fear, worry, and regret.
• I will be patient.
• I will be grateful for my many blessings.
• I will work with integrity.
• I will show kindness and respect to my family, friends, and neighbors.
• I choose to live in sunshine, regardless of any shadows on my heart. 

I think this is the method I should use to acquire some of the new habits I have been writing about the past two weeks.    

Stick-to-it-ness

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.  ~Thomas Merton

I have been actively seeking serenity for some time now and have become convinced that by fostering balance and harmony in my life I can achieve it. Easier said than done, however. I tend to approach all my goals with great passion--one might even say obsession.  This life style is not conducive to serenity, but how does one change a long-established way of living one's life?  

Routines help.  Getting up in the morning and going to bed at night at the same time every day is useful in establishing some kind of order and rhythm in my life.  I can sustain this pattern for a while, but then something always disturbs it.  An extended trip away from home; a good book I just can't put down; an inability to get to sleep one night.  

Maintaining balance in my life requires tremendous self-discipline and dedication.  Passion provides the motivation, but so far I am lacking that perseverance I mentioned yesterday.  I need to develop the habit of stick-to-it-ness.  

This topic of forming habits is a recurring theme in my thoughts and posts this month.  Is it just the effect of the New Year on me?  It's January so I must make changes in my life?  I have been resisting making resolutions, but perhaps I need to make some commitments before I can see any progress toward my goals.

Perseverance or Insanity?

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.  ~Newt Gingrich 

Insanity:  doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  ~Albert Einstein


Sunday afternoon I grew frustrated with my knitting of the Scrawl on the Wall Shawl because I was trying to use a lace weight yarn and a novelty yarn and I kept having difficulties. The lace weight was too light and the novelty yarn too splitty.  I must have frogged the same section of the shawl three or four times and finally put it up.  Monday I attempted to add those two yarns to the shawl again and I had to frog it.  Today I picked the shawl up and decided to try one more time with the lace weight and novelty yarns and I had no problems!  Am I a persevering knitter or just plain insane? 

We Are Family

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."  ~Desmond Tutu

We haven't always agreed with each other.  In fact, sometimes, we haven't even liked each other. When I was 16, I thought you didn't have a clue about how to raise children.  When I was 21, I definitely did not want to be like you. In my 30s, raising my own children, I began to hear words coming out of my mouth that sounded a lot like things you used to say. In my 40s, I envied your freedom in retirement to travel the world and I was upset when I phoned you and you were not home.  In my 50s, I began worrying about your being so far away and what would I do if something happened to you.  Now, in my 60s, I take every opportunity to be with you because I know our times together are precious.  Today you came to stay with me in my home and visit for a while.  I really didn't think that you would ever be able to do that again.  Today I feel blessed to have you as my parents.

A Simple Sunday Afternoon

"Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods."~James Beard

I spent a quiet day at home today. Just watching the NFL playoff games (glad the Ravens and Green Bay won!); knitting on my Scrawl on the Wall Shawl (became very frustrated after having to frog the lace weight and novelty yarns I was using today); and so ended my afternoon by baking some bread.  My parents are coming for their first visit to our high desert home and I wanted to make something to welcome them. I couldn't think of anything more welcoming than a homemade loaf of bread.

I used to make bread when my children were young and then stopped when my life became really crazy with work.  For years, I wanted a bread machine, but had so little counter space and storage room in my old kitchen that it remained only a dream.  Our kitchen here is not huge, but I made room for a bread machine and use it often. Today I made Nutty Low Carb Bread.  I've made it quite a few times and everyone seems to love it, plus it keeps very well.

I love my bread machine!

Yummy, nutty low carb bread

 

 

I was very tempted to have a slice, but once I start eating it I can't stop and it is for Mom and Dad, after all.