Ready Veggies

I often eat vegetables at every meal. Breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and even snacks. I don't do this only to be healthy, but I actually like it! I crave them. 

Friends will often say to me that they wish they could eat more veggies. "What's stopping you?" I ask. The main answer in that it is just "easier" to eat other things. They say that it's a hassle to eat raw veg. for snacks and sides. "You don't have to cook!" I say. 

Yes, but as they are busy moms it's not easy to stop and prep vegetables. It is easier to whip out some cheese and crackers, a slice of bread smeared with peanut butter. Those things can be o.k., but why not put out some raw veggies alongside? 

My secret? Just have vegetables available all the time. It's fast food! Before I grocery shop I'll clean off the counter and lay a towel out. (Also clean out the sink.) When you get home fill the sink with water and whatever soap you use to wash your veg. I plop it all in the wash before it ever gets to the fridge.

Lay it all out to dry while you put everything else away. By the time it is dry expect some of it to be gone! Everyone who walks by grabs a bit here, a bit there. Which is exactly what I want. 

 I put everything away in towels or in suitable containers and everyone knows that it's up for grabs. Ready and available fast food. Putting a plate of veggies, fruits, even mushrooms or herbs is a guaranteed invitation to eat it. Let's face it, we humans are lazy and if we are hungry we will go for the easiest thing we can lay our hands on. That's how chips and candy get devoured instead of healthy food. When we are hungry we'll grab what will fill that need quickly, but our bodies are not being fed what they really need.

Happy Father's Day!

Me and my Dad.

The older I get the more thankful I am that God blessed me with the Father that I have. All good things came to me through him. 

He convinced me that I could do anything I set my mind to, and not to care what others think about it when I did. He trusted me and gave me unconditional love.

He enthusiastically supported (and financed) every hair brained scheme I ever had. We have never exchanged a harsh word. Without him in my life, I wouldn't have made it.

The Friday Piles

 By the end of the week there are many corners in my home that have accumulated piles. When Friday comes all piles get sorted and put away. I must start my weekend with a clean slate. Before  this week's tidying I went around the house snapping pictures. Each assemblage of things  has it's own personality of the people who left them. I am going to keep photographing them for myself, these little time capsules of my family.

 The end of the kitchen counter continually collects bits from each day. A necklace swept out from under the table, those buttons we couldn't part with taken off that sweater nobody wanted. Things temporarily parked on their way into or out of someone's bag.

My older daughter's corner of the kitchen table usually looks something like this. Each evening before dinner is served she moves whatever it is she is working on to the floor, the windowsill, the stairs. Come Friday though, it all goes back to whence it came. 

I have piles too. Laundry piles, book piles, sewing piles, and of course piles of dishes. Not as interesting as the children's piles. I know their piles are going to change drastically in the next few years so I savor these future memories today.

Another sweater, oh no!

I really need to stop with the sweaters. Its been 90 degrees and muggy here in NY and I am still knitting sweaters! Maybe I need an intervention, because I am definitely addicted. This one is a vest, still it's way too hot to wear it. All that's left is too sew up the sides and weave a nice pale pink ribbon through (right under the bust). 

There are so many summer dresses floating around in my head. But knitting in my opinion is more enjoyable than sewing. It's relaxing, portable and just feels good.