Serena Ryder - Stompa

We try so hard everyday to hold on to what we got. All we got is to be!
Took a twenty minute vacation around the lake in the middle of the day. This song came on and
all I had to do was BE. And enjoy! And don't ever forget it. So pick yourself up and hold your head up. What ever it is you will get though it. I know I will get though my newest dilemma.  It my blog and I will cry if I want to.

Not the brightest bulb

pamelarichardson.blogspot.com

She is not the brightest bulb in the bunch.  No, I am not. Thank god!  I do not suffer from that affliction. My three Grandfathers’, yes three. My two paternal grandfathers and one-step grandfather had high I.Qs. I loved them dearly; my father, my brother’s and one of my sisters have high I.Qs

Some people think that if you have a high I.Q that you will be able to succeed in anything. Not true, at least not in my experience. When you have a high I.Q, other people are boring. Life is boring and alcohol and drug abuse seem to go right along with this affliction. Ant-social behavior becomes the norm.  I am not saying that my relatives necessarily suffer from these afflictions.

 Most of them also had another form of intelligence. The other form of I.Q. is emotional intelligence. A man named Daniel Goleman wrote a book about it. It is in my library. Great book you should read it sometime.

Therefore, here is my take on an old proverb. 

The simple man comes home from his 8-hour job, greets his children, and asks his wife what is for dinner. Because he knows, they are important to him.

The complicated man comes home from his 10-12 hour job tortured from all the day’s events. If he even has a wife, he does not ask her what is for dinner. He cannot eat because he is to upset. If she is home, she is either an empty shell unable to do anything right in his eyes. She may also be just like him so she is off trying to figure out her own problems, and has no time for domestic stuff. If she is not like him, she is not there because she is trying to avoid the constant worrying’s of his mind. If he has children, they too are avoiding him. His mind is constantly spinning with why do things happen and how can he control them. Only to be unsuccessful in reaching any real answers.

The enlightened man comes home from his 6-8 hour job. Greets his children, kisses his wife and asks her what is for dinner. Because he knows this is the most important part of his life. The outside world can wait until tomorrow.

I had the privilege to get to meet Bill Alexander. I did not need his service he needed ours. He lived here near Stillwater. He is a wonderful man and now lives in California.


http://www.hazelden.org/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?item=12508

Making a pie crust

I cannot make a decent piecrust if my life depended on it. Well, maybe if my life depended on it I could meet the challenge

 My grandma Johnson was an artist. Her pies would have beautiful designs on them. It was almost a shame to cut into them and destroy the work of art. When you did cut into them, they were perfect. The inside was layered just right, picture perfect. In addition, the taste was always perfection.

Maybe it is because I feel I would never live up to her standards. Maybe I do not want to compete with the memories of her pies.  I know she is probable looking down on me saying, do it, I know you can. I cannot, I have a mental block.

Back in the days when women of her generation made pies, they made crust with lard. Of course, people do not use lard anymore. They use shortening.  Shortening is not good for you, so I use butter instead. Of course, that does not make a good piecrust.  It is not as flakey.

I have made crust with lard and it has tasted great. My problem is crimping the crust just right. My designs are also never as good as hers were, so I gave up. I said I have a mental block, I know it is not that hard.  Now I just use Pappy’s piecrust dough. Thaw it and roll it out. Works great.

I also cannot get anything less than a 15 on a par five when I go golfing with the C.O. That too is a mental block. As to why I have no idea.

I stand at the tee and try to talk myself up. First swing and it goes two feet to the left. I go over, start hitting it willy-nilly, and just get through it. Sometime I just stop counting and just swing.

We all have these little issues. I guess it just how you look at it. I do not take it too seriously. I just go on with my day.

 Have a happy fourth of July.

If your up to the challenge

Pie crust
3 cups flour
1 cup lard
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. vinegar
dash of salt
works best if water is hot and lard is cold
 

Honesty with self

Honesty with one’s self. This is a huge subject. . Being honest with one’s self is the hardest honesty of them all. It is better to blame others then look at ourselves.  I guess I cannot be very honest with others either unless I start being honest with myself.

 I had a frenemy once and she would say she was going to Egypt because she liked D-Nile.   I always respected her humor and courage.  She got the promotion that I wanted. This is why she was my frenemy.   In retrospect, I did not deserve the promotion because she had been there longer. In addition, she was prettier and skinnier then me, and partied with the manager.   That would have been the reason; it could not have been my fault. That I just did not live up to the job.  Maybe we should all live in D-Nile so we can get through the day.

So maybe, sometimes I should put it out there, you know honestly look at myself. Turn it around look at it from all side, check under the hood, kick the tires and then put it back. After all, completely looking at it all at once is a heart attack/anxiety attack just waiting to happen. If I can take it in small steps, just inch my way to the truth, and then do something about it one-day at a time, I would make some headway, but for most days, it is best to be at the D-Nile laying in the sun and listening to the sounds of nature