NIMBY

Have you ever had that perfect pet.  The one who was easily trained.  The one loved by everyone.  Nimby was that perfect cat.

She had the loudest purr.  Anyone could pet her and she would show her affection by rubbing up against their leg.  Rennisance man would say she was like a dog.   Nimby would greet people at our door and not stop trying to win them over until they had to finally resist her charms and petted her. 

Even in the last year of Nimby's life she was tolerant of L.S. treating her as a best friend. L.S. would pick Nimby up and bring her to her bedroom to read stories to her and  dress her up!

Nimby was my alarm clock. Every morning at 4:30 I would hear her click, click, of her nails and then thump. There she was cuddling into me so I would get out of bed and do my workout.  How will I wake up without my most favorite alarm clock?

When we finally had to put her down the vet office made a little plaster cast of her paw.  We brought her home in a box (the kids refused to let us cremate her) and buried her under our peach tree.  Every day L.S.  goes outside and talks to her.  Sometimes children can deal with death so much better then adults. 



It is so hard to loose a member of your family after 17 years! Nimby truly was the best cat in the whole wide world to us.

FEAR

Recently I have been thinking about all the things that can be feared.  Bin Laden, Poverty, Job loss, getting into the "right" college, heights, falling down on a bike, bees, bee keepers and the list goes on.  But when there are people telling you to fear these things fear becomes stronger for some.  Fear comes at different levels for different people.  I see fear as a destructive part of life and I choose not to let it be a part of mine. 

Okay that is not completely true, when I saw Froggy at almost the top of a very large tree I did fear, I feared he was going to fall.  But then a friend said, wow you should be so proud of him that he made it so high, it was nice to hear a non fearing perspective at that time.  In this case I let my fear over come me and told him to come further down.  I should have probably trusted him that he knew his own abilities and could do it. 

L.S.  was fearful yesterday as she climbed onto her two wheeled bike and went sailing down the hill, but she overcame that fear and started to pedal her bike.  By overcoming fears you learn to live life a little fuller.

The fear of terrorism has been fed to us for years.  I do not fear terrorism, I fear those who hate on the basis of race and religion or non religion.

When my children fear I try to encourage them to get past it.  Like L.S. on the bike, "You can do it, keep going!"

There is that saying there is nothing to fear but fear itself.... so true.

Easy Spaghetti your whole family will love!!!

The quickest yummiest Spaghetti ever!

As the Pioneer Woman's blog says "Here are your cast of characters!" 

This Spaghetti recipe was given to my dad by an Italian friend of his.  I remember sitting at the table eating the spaghetti and hearing my dad ask questions like "Is there to much oregano?"  "Did I make it to saucy?"  and the questions went on.  I figured this was normal, my normal, to have the dad do most of the cooking.  When I got married to my wonderful husband, I found out that his mom did all the cooking.  Well that really put us in an interesting situation.  He thought I would do all the cooking and I thought he would.  In the beginning we ate a lot of this recipe, it was one of the only ones I really knew. 

Brown the ground beef.  Or not if you want to make it vegetarian.

Pour the tomato puree, sauce and paste into the pan and stir it together.

Time to add the spices! (we actually grow ours and put them in these jars..)

Add a teaspoon of oregano.  I just eyeball it in my hand. 

My dad's Italian friend said to rub your hands together to mash up the spices more, so I do that.

The recipe says 1 teaspoon of basil, but I like to add more.

Add a few tablespoons of sugar, maybe just one, depends on your tastes.

There is all the ingredients saying "stir me"!

So of course I listen and do it!

If you want the flavors to blend more simmer, if you are like me and always in a hurry go ahead and put it on the spaghetti, or roasted zucchini (that's what I like)

Boil up some spaghetti and....

Enjoy.

15 oz can tomato sauce

64 oz can tomato puree

2- 8 or is it 6oz cans of tomato paste

1lb ground beef

spaghetti noodles

1 t. oregano

1t. basil

1 T sugar

cook ground beef.  Add the sauces.  Add the spices and sugar.  Simmer and serve!

The New Bike

It was time for Froggy to get a new bike. We are so fortunate here in our town, we have a bike swap. All I know about bikes is how to ride them. As for sizing an almost 10 year old, I had no clue. Fortunately we had some help. First we had help from one of my friends dad who was at the swap and gave me some beginning pointers of how to get the right bike. Then I ran into a man I coach swimming to. I have a difficult time asking for help from other people and I told my Froggy that. (It is good to express the feelings I have and show how to conquer them in order to do the right thing).

And then I did it. I actually did it. Right there at the bike swap. I asked for help finding a bike for Froggy from swimming man. It brought me out of my comfort zone, yet I needed help and my kids needed to see how it is okay to ask for help from others, sometimes.

Froggy is a great shopper and found a bike right out of the starting gate!