Sweet surrender

Photo: Rex Strombotne

Soooo... it's been awhile. How the heck are you all? I've missed this... and you!

It's been hard to write lately. I'm in a bit of a rough patch right now. I really hate to drone on about health stuff, so please, be patient with me. I'm concentrating on healing, and things are moving slowly. I know I owe you an explanation, but I'm not quite ready yet.

The good news is that I'll be ok eventually. Nothing that is life threatening, and really, that's the important thing. Boy, it is amazing how dumb stuff peals away when more important things become the focus.

xo

Resolute

Happy New Year!

I keep humming the song, Talkin' bout a revolution, you know the one by Jefferson Starship? But instead of revolution, I'm thinking resolution!

I usually don't make resolutions on New Years Eve. If I ever did, they'd be broken by mid-morning the next day. I'm not the disciplined type. But this year feels different somehow. This year I'm going to make just a couple and try to keep them. Keep it simple.

Here's what I'm resolute about for next year: 

To be a kinder, gentler person. If we're divulging truth here, let's just say that I have become a little bit of a, hmmm, how do you say... bitch grump lately, so I thought this would be a good thing to work on for the next 50 years, or so.

And with that goes being more forgiving. Of myself, especially. Oh, maybe Mr R and the kids, too. Buddy, my dog? No way, he peed on my carpet a few days ago, and there's NO forgiveness for that!

I think that's enough to work on for now. What about you? Do you make resolutions? And if you do, have you ever kept them?

Wishing you a very Happy New Year! I sure hope this year we'll all follow our paths and make the world a little bit better. 

xo

Bloglessness is a word

 I am a very bad blogger. I am such a bad blogger, I shouldn't even call myself a blogger! I mean what other blogger doesn't even blog?

It all started with my damn back. It's still the same, bulging disc and no feeling in my leg, just in case you were wondering. It's been over two months, by the way. Then there were a couple more medical scares, and I swore that I wouldn't bore you with  boring details about bulging discs, lack of general good health and frailty. I mean really, I am completely bored by it myself! Why don't I just shut up already!

So, with all this fun and frivolity, I really don't have anything to say.

I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to 2012. A new year means a fresh start, right? RIGHT?

Anyways, there are plenty of things that I am grateful for out there in the world.

Here are a few of my favorite things... (you can start singing along at any time)

And of course, I can't leave out Mr. R and our two kids. 

If I don't talk to you before the holidays, here's wishing you a bundle of joy, world peace, perfect health and prosperity in the new year! Did I leave anything out? 

xo

I didn't know that

Maybe I should turn this blog into a step by step medical navigation blog, now that I'm on this path of medical intervention for a leg that doesn't feel anything. How exciting would that be? We could all discuss aging, how bad it sucks, aches & pains, and all sorts of other pains in our backs, necks and asses. Sounds fun, right?

Ah well, I'll try to indulge myself in this stuff as little as possible. No really, I promise! 

But today I'm going for it, ready or not.

Had the MRI yesterday and learned something about myself that I never knew before. I am claustrophobic! 

As they were inching me head first into the machine, I became completely full of anxiety and thought my heart and my brain were going to explode. The only things that kept me from jumping off the table and running far, far away were, 1. I can't feel my left leg, so I probably wouldn't get very far, and 2. I would have to start all over again if I ever want to feel my leg again. So, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to even my breathing and not panic for the next half hour of torture, which, by the way, felt like a lifetime. I am extremely proud of myself for not pressing the panic button until the very end. Good girl.

The results of the MRI show that I have a bulging disc that is pinching my sciatic nerve. Now I have to see a neurologist. A neurologist, folks! Shit, do you think they'll find more wrong with me than just a pinched nerve? 

I got the referral back, called to make an appointment, but the doctor that I was assigned to has broken the machine I need. Now I'm now waiting (and waiting) for a second referral to come back. 

Aren't HMO's great? 

Meanwhile, I keep thinking that my leg will magically heal itself, kind of like that liver I keep abusing. 

What do I know?

I recently watched one of the Ted Talks by performance poet, Sarah Kay. Per Ted Talks, she was courageous, funny and inspirational to listen to, but something she said really struck a chord with me. She was asking each person in the audience to list 3 things that they know to be true, then listed her own 3 things.

So, that got me to thinking about my own 3 things. After thinking and thinking, scratching my noggin, and banging my head against the wall, I realized I don't know much to be absolutely true. And on any given day, what I know to be true one day may be completely and utterly false the next.

But anyways, here are my 3 things that I know to be true today:

1. Bad things come in increments higher than 3. (but hopefully not more than 10 or 11)

2. There are usually good things that come alongside bad things.

3. Not being able to feel your left leg stinks.

Ok, so I'm wondering what your 3 things are?

I'll keep you posted on my number of bad things after I get my MRI appointment set...

My new project!

Like I don't have enough going on, right? Well, if you must know, I really don't have enough going on, but taking on a huge project like this is still pretty daunting.

You may not know this, but my father-in-law, James Strombotne is an unbelievably incredible artist. He's been painting since the mid '50's, and has been garnered with awards and fellowships and has really famous people collecting his art.

My all time fave Strombotne painting
Red Nude

With the hopes of even more exposure in this tech savvy world, and with the help of my husband and his computer guy, Nick Brunson, because normal people cannot understand anything about Wordpress, I have taken on another blog called Studio Strombotne. Although we're still building and working out kinks, (Wordpress, right?) I feel its time to unveil the canvas. (Like the arty reference? Canvas, get it?)

And I can't tell you how thrilled we are about James' art being included in the Pacific Standard Time art event of the century!

So, I hope you stop by and visit, and let me know what you think about the new project! But please be kind, we still are changing and tweeking here and there, but I'd love your bloggy input, too!

See you there! I mean, here!

When life gives you tomatoes...

So what if it's the hottest day of the year. I have too many tomatoes, and by god, I'm going to attempt to can them!

Down to the garden I go to collect LOTS of tomatoes. Did I mention that it's down 27 stairs? And the chicken coop, did I also mention that it's down 27 stairs?

Oh, and speaking of chickens... today when I went to go feed my precious hens, one was missing. Yup, gone. Trying not to panic, and trying to assess the situation, hmmm... no sign of blood and guts, so no coyote or raccoon had gotten her. Everything was locked up tight. I looked inside the coop, outside in the run. She was gone! Wha? As I scratched my head, I decided to start poking around in the coop. I started to move the food can, that's when I saw her. She was all squashed up in the corner. My heart sunk.

Wait a minute, she was nesting! Did you know that chickens don't always ever want to lay in their nesting boxes (that we so carefully built for them)? Nope, they want to lay wherever the heck they want. And really, who can blame them? So under missy chicken was 4 eggs she and the others had tucked away. As of now, the egg laying count is 5 out of 8 of the hens!! Hooray!! Maybe, just maybe, I'll never have to buy $4 eggs again!! Ah well, life on the farm, right?

Soooo, back to the tomatoes and making life hotter than it's supposed to be.

I decided to make stewed tomatoes. A dumb idea in this blazing heat? I am not going to answer that.

First, cut an x in the bottom of tomato and dip into a nearly boiling bath for a few minutes, until skins start to separate. Remove from heat and place into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

No, wait. First, first - sterilize jars and lids. You can run them through your dishwasher, or boil them in hot water, or if you're like me, I quickly boiled water in my microwave and put the lids in the boiling water, then microwaved the jars.

Then peel them all. It's kind of a pain, but not nearly as much as deseeding all of these buggars. That was a real pain.

I added about 2 pints of water and added all of the peeled, quartered and deseeded tomatoes, adding some basil, also from the garden after about 10 minutes. There were probably about 3 lbs of tomatoes altogether, and I brought them to a slow boil, about 30 minutes. I'm very accurate when I cook, as you can tell.

Pouring into the jars. Sorry it's blurry, but 1. I stink at photography, and 2. it's really hard to take pictures while pouring hot stuff into jars. You'll see when you try this!

Into the boiling water for the final step. I read somewhere that this only takes 20 minutes because they've already been cooking. So, 20 minutes it was.

Voila! (Sorry, still blurry!) Ready for a cold winters day. I'll probably have to do this again soon, my tomato crop is still going strong. Never having done this before, next time I think I'll keep the stewing going a little longer, maybe about 45 minutes.

Why do I feel like Old McDonald? E I E I OH.