Calling All Plus Size Ladies

Dear friends,

I've finally decided I will try to sell some of my little used clothing. I have a lot of clothing I used for work and also some clothing I've never worn for summer.  I want to make room in my closets and also make some funds to send to the mission field. I hope you will tell your family and friends so that when I have finished taking photos of the inventory, you will be ready to take advantage of the sales.

All clothes are of excellent quality and mostly from the high end stores. I want to upload these items soon so that the sweaters I have can be in someone's hand during the cooler weather.  I also have some dresses for summer wear in case you are taking a cruise this winter or going to a warmer climate for the coming Christmas holiday.

Gently used boiled wool jacket sweater. Perfect for Fall and Winter.

I know of two places on line that specialize in clothing sales (not ebay or Craigslist). When I post  for sale, I will put a notice here on my blog.  Sizing and brand information as well as price and shipping information will available wherever I post the clothing. All sales will be done through Pay Pal.

If you know of any websites that you like to deal with and that specialize in sales of plus size clothing please let me know.

Stay tuned!

A Unexpectedly Beautiful Day

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. 

Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, 

certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. 

Robert Louis Stevenson 

I was surprised to see there was a seagull sitting at the top of the cross on the church spire.

The wispy clouds are dark grey. It was supposed to rain. Unexpectedly the sun was out and it was a glorious day.

Here you can see the snow blankets much of the mountain.  

Thank you for your visit. Please visit again soon!

I Do Love Antiques

I am not sure why but I have always loved antiques and I have a few pieces that I cherish. I wrote before about one such piece which I will sell due to it being too large for my condo.  That didn't stop me from buying another treasure.  This one I purchased more for practicality than anything.

My latest acquisition is a Chinese Elm wood blanket chest. It is about 150 years old so not terribly old but I like the character it has. I immediately wiped out the inside and filled it with some of my craft supplies which are overflowing in the living room.  I covered the stop with some of my African craft finds and my Aloe Vera plant which really does need to be re-potted into a larger container.

I have been wanting a Chinese antique for years.  Initially, I was thinking of an altar table to be used in my front entry.  But really I have no room in that area because it isn't a hallway and that is where I have bookshelves housing many of my books.  The altar tables don't have the kind of practicality I need since they don't have doors and drawers to hide things.  I think this piece is more suitable for my needs.

I got it for a wonderful bargain and paid almost one quarter of the original price. These days, antique shopping is a luxury for most people and the store owner is branching out in many ways to try and save her business. She can no longer afford to just sell antiques. She understood the value of off loading her inventory by giving me a fabulous deal.  It also helped that I had my eye on other pieces in a different shop and so knew my prices as well as the market right now.  Learning how to establish bottom lines and haggling in Kenyan market places has helped me here at home. At least with stores that aren't big box stores.

I'm very pleased with this piece. I see that I  need to give it a good cleaning on the outside as well but that can wait until I re-organize things a bit more.

What about you dear reader? Do you prefer antiques that have the character and vibe of days gone by or do you prefer the modern look?

Creamy and Tangy

Saturday's juice was a little creamy and a little tart.  It was made in my blender rather than in a juicer.

I wanted to make a juice featured by my friend Brenda at Hearts Touching Hearts here,  but I didn't have the ingredients on hand so I had to modify the recipe substantially. I still need to try Brenda's avocado drink. Next time I get to the produce store I will make certain to buy spinach and English cucumbers.

My juice consisted of:

- 4 stalks of kale, chopped finely
- 1 small lime. chopped fine
- a small piece of zucchini squash, chopped
- a few stalks of parsley springs, no need for chopping
- 1 small avocado, peeled, no need for chopping but discard the nut inside
- 1 half of a small banana, peeled

Throw all this into a blender along with a cup and half or two of water and some spices as you like. I used some Mexican chili powder but would have added some cayenne or garlic powder if I had some on hand. Yet another few items for my grocery list.

Blend until you can no longer see any specks of kale and drink.

I found this blend of produce made a creamy if somewhat tart and tangy juice due to the use of a whole lime. Perhaps next time I will try it with only half a lime.  My blender is just a regular household blender and I could taste little pieces of the vegetables in the mix.  This didn't bother me. It probably all works as good fiber. This is good news for my reader Kay, at an Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel, who wants to try blender juicing.

Creamy rich avocado is considered the world's healthiest fruit, because of its nutrient contents such as vitamin K, dietary fiber, potassium, folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin C, copper, and it has reasonable calories in it. Potassium can help you guard against circulatory diseases, like high blood pressure, heart disease, or stroke.  Avocados contain many good things for our bodies but I will end my little educational bit here and encourage you to eat an avocado now and then. It contains good fat.

Where I live avocados are quite expensive as they are imported from warmer climates. I make an effort to always have them on hand and try to eat them once or twice a week in simple salads, a sandwich and now, juice.

Not bad and I think it is probably quite healthy with avocados and kale as it's main ingredients.

What about you dear reader? Do you have avocados as a crop where you live or is it too cold?

Macro Flowers ~ October 28, 2011

I captured these at the beginning of the Fall season. 

The colour was starting to fade and the petals were a little wilted but I found the faded beauty enchanting. 

Join Maia and Tina for more beautiful macro flowers. Just click on the badges below.

Thursday Sky

First snow on the North Shore mountains this year.  It is a nice, sunny day even though we were expecting rain.  There is no snow at street level here in the city but the air has a definite chill. Time to start wearing and carrying gloves.

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Enjoy your weekend and please check out beautiful sky photos from around the world by clicking on the badge below.

Pear Tart

Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 

Leviticus 26:4

One of the fruits of the tree that I love is pears.

One of the unripened left over pears.

 We had some pears this week that quickly started to ripen.  They got used in an easy to make tart.

Pie crust rolled and put into tart pan.

Ingredients:

• 1 (unbaked) pie crust
• 3-4 pears, quartered, cored, peeled, and sliced
• 1/2  cup sugar, divided
• 1 Tbsp.lemon juice

Pears sliced and arranged in the pan and excess dough taken off the edges.

 Preparation:

1. Line a 10-inch tart pan  pr pie pan with an unbaked pie crust and set aside.
2. In a large bowl toss pear slices with 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice. Arrange pear slices on crust in a pattern of your choice.
3. Bake at 350º until crust is brown on the edges and pears are tender which will take about 40 minutes depending on your oven.
4. While the pear tart is baking put the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar in a small saucepan along with 1/4 cup of water and the remaining pear slices.  Once it boils, reduce heat, simmer and cook for about about 10 minutes until the syrup thickens.
5. While tart cools, brush generously with syrup. 
6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Finished tart!

This is a simple recipe to make and is the first time I've made it. I had pie crust on hand in the freezer from the last time I made a pie so all I had to do was thaw it out first. If you don't make pie crust you can use a store bought one.

Notes: The original recipe calls for 2/3 cup of sugar (1/3 for mixing with the sliced pears and the other 1/3 to make the syrup but I used less because of my diabetes. If you like a sweeter tart, you can use the original amount of sugar and add 1/3 cup of water when making the syrup. If you have a tart pan with a removable bottom like mine, I recommend putting it on top of a cookie tray when you put it in the oven. Otherwise the juices will be running into your oven and possibly catch fire. Putting the tart pan on top of a baking sheet will likely increase the time you need to bake the tart.

Enjoy!

Some Things End and New Things Begin

We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful... and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.

Bishop Desmond Tutu

South African Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

I so love this quote by Bishop Tutu.  It is these beautiful things in life as well as my faith in the Creator who made them, that keep me sane and help me endure whatever I may face in life. The beauty in the colours of Fall are what spoke to me of the sublime today amidst learning of the tragedy that has hit the country of Kenya.  The country of my heart and spirit. Please say a little prayer for the people as they endure yet more tragedy in the form of bomb attacks on the City of Nairobi.

A month or so ago, I started pneumatic compression therapy. It was to help eliminate some water from my legs and take some of the stress off of the right knee and leg which has troubled me for months. I think it helped me by giving me that added boost I needed in conjunction with everything else I'm doing to lose weight and get more mobility in the leg.

This is a photo of pneumatic compression therapy. I only get my legs and hips covered.

Given the high cost of this therapy, even at reduced (for me) rates, I've decided not to continue with another round. Instead I'm going to start physiotherapy on the leg and deep massage to supplement the acupuncture treatments I am still getting.

Today I managed to heed my TCM doctor's advice and walk very slowly.  Distance covered was 18 city blocks or approximately 1 mile or 1.6 kilometres. Not too bad, considering there are some days I can't walk more than 3 blocks. The new cross trainers really helped provide the stability and support I needed.

Along the way I stopped at a few shops to buy some small items and to replenish my supply of vegetables.  For a treat and for juicing, I was able to pick up a basket of strawberries on a great buy.

I stopped by my doctor's office to pick up the referral for the new therapies as they will be paid for in large part by medical insurance.  The paper wasn't ready.  Or at least the front desk staff couldn't find it.  My trip wasn't wasted as the doctor asked me to get about 4 blood pressure readings at different intervals over the next several weeks. I got the first one today.

I was relieved to find my blood pressure reading was much better than it was last Wednesday (136/76).  Today it was 126/85. I'm not sure why the bottom number is so high but I'm working on getting the numbers down to normal (120/70). I'm hopeful my next reading will be similarly good,  or even better.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have more  rain after a few days of beautiful, sunny Fall days. Today it was just nice to stroll along the street and snap a few photos of the Fall foliage without worrying about rain drops getting in the camera lens.

This is what I love about the Fall; all the glorious colour.

I want to let my regular readers know that I may not be as active for a few days while I deal with some personal errands and begin new therapies. I have one or possibly two pre-scheduled posts but I may not be up to reading blogs and commenting as prolifically as I usually do for the immediate future.

Chicken & Sausage Casserole

Yesterday I posted a recipe for the chili I made on Saturday. Today I'm posting the dinner  made on Sunday. It was delicious and very filling. I feel like making some nice pumpkin or cranberry muffins but I'll probably wait until Monday as there is movie I want to catch right now while I enjoy a cup of tea.

 

Ingredients

• 6-8 Italian sausages (sliced) *

• 4 pieces of chicken thighs/legs

• 3 c. brown rice

• 6 c. water

• 1 tsp. vegetable oil

• 1 chopped white onion

• 1 chopped green and red bell peppers

• 1 can of stewed tomatoes or chop about 3 fresh tomatoes

• 3 tsp. of chopped/minced garlic

• 3 chicken bouillon cubes

• salt (to taste  - not to much if you have high blood pressure)

• pepper (to taste)

• 3-4 drops soy sauce for colouring (can be omitted if you have high blood sugar)

• a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp. worchestershire sauce

• 1 tsp. hot sauce

Directions

In a large pot over medium/high heat "brown" your sliced sausage in the vegetable oil for approximately 5-7 minutes.  You want it brown. Repeat sausage step with the chicken and remove from the heat when done.

Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic. Sautee in the same pot until transparent.  Put the chicken and sausage back in the pot and add the water. You can also add the seasonings, worchestershire, and soy sauce (optional).  Bring to a full boil and add rice, boullion cubes and hot sauce.  Stir occasionally and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to simmer, and cover for 1 hour taking care not to remove the lid during this time.
Remove lid, turn off heat, serve up and enjoy.

* A package of Grimm's All-Beef Smokies were used and they were very lean.

If you have no dietary or cholesterol concerns you could use a sausage with more fat (and flavour).  Personally I found these sausages to be hard and they didn't soften with cooking. They were okay in the casserole but next time I would choose a more traditional pork sausage.

Enjoy!

I think this will be new favourite during our cold months of winter.
What is your favourite cold weather dish?

Organizing, Cold Weather Eating & Chillaxin'

Despite the fact I can't move around normally (yet), or perhaps because of it, it has been an incredibly busy few months. Barely a day goes by when I am home and when I can attend to the day to day running of the household, relaxing, paying the bills (ha!) or catching up with friends. This past week, I cancelled and rearranged several appointments so that I could have a few days to myself to get things done like shop for my mother (see post here) and myself, look after some administrative issues for the Missions of Hope, shop for some books (more about that in another post), cook, clean, plan ahead for new appointments (massage and physiotherapy) to continue the leg treatments, a bit of mending, and a lot of washing dishes (not something I really enjoy). Next week will be another busy one so I had to make the best of the last few days.

I'm madly trying to catch up to my goal of reading two books a month. I'm sadly far behind but I've read some good books.  Some of them were rather long, like Anna Karenina which is over a 1000 pages. It probably qualifies as 3 average length books, lol. I've got numerous books in various stages of reading so before the year is out I will have made good progress toward my goal even if I haven't fully achieved it.

One of the things I managed to buy for myself was a good pair of cross trainers so I can walk properly.  I also had to pick up a new bottom for my swim suit.  Mine seems to have disintegrated since my last swim lesson at the Bontana Hotel in Nakuru in June. Hopefully I will have some time this winter to continue with the lessons.

When I am too busy I also don't get a chance to cook and eat from scratch and it is important I keep on track with the dietary changes to help my blood sugar levels. This weekend I was at least able to cook and use kidney beans and cook a few cups of pinto beans for use later this week in soups or salads.

On a coolish day, I tend to want some "stick to my ribs" kind of food like a good hearty soup, stew or chili. Yesterday was such a day. It was also my first full day home all week and a time to get caught up on laundry and other things before the week starts again.

I don't have a standard recipe for chili. I use whatever I have on hand.

Today's version consisted of:

- 1 or 2 pounds of lean ground beef, pre-cooked
- several cups of not quite cooked kidney beans
- 2 large celery stalks, cleaned and chopped
- 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup of diced carrots
- 3 medium tomatos, washed and diced
- chili flakes to taste
- hot sauce to taste
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- half can of tomato paste (approx. 1/3 cup or 75 mL)
- few splashes/dashes of soy sauce
- few splashes/dashes of vinegar
- bit of salt (not too much if you have high blood pressure or diabetes)

I browned the meat and put it in an electric rice cooker to cook on the counter top. I added the celery, onions, carrots and kidney beans to this along with about 4-5 cups of water. If you like a thinner broth you can put more water or reduce water if you prefer a chunkier chili.

I added the tomatoes and all the seasonings after this was all boiling together for a while.  Cook and simmer everything together until you are happy with the consistency and the taste of the vegetables and beans. I like my beans a little on the crunchy side but some people prefer their beans very soft. The chili was good but it made me realize I was out of chili powder so I made a point of getting some for next time.  It is a gorgeous, deep red mexican chili powder and will add just the right amount of zing for the next chili dish.

If you are vegetarian you could of course omit the beef and perhaps add some zucchini instead. You could also add another type of bean to the dish if you like beans.

Notes:  I soaked the kidney beans for about 1 hour and pre-cooked them in the rice cooker before using them. I left them a bit on the firm side so that they wouldn't get too soft and mushy as my chili was cooking.  The beans were not of a high quality. I noticed that a good many of them were already split open.  I used them anyway but they tend to cook more quickly than the beans that are intact.

I am really loving my rice cooker which I've had now for a few weeks. It is much quicker to cook beans from scratch. It literally saves me hours of waiting for beans to soak or boiling on the stove for hours.  It also cooks my brown rice to perfection in about one third the time. I've owned a rice cooker several times before (we've worn them out) but never used it for more than cooking white rice.  I know a lot of people who like slow cookers for chili and stew.  I don't like slow cookers.  They take too long and I am usually hungry long before the slow cooker has finished it's process.  I think this little appliance is not only going to save me a lot of time in the kitchen but also save me money by reducing the electricity consumption.

I didn't finish all of my errands and realize it doesn't sound like I've relaxed much.  But in truth I've found that just being at home for a stretch of time helps me to feel like I'm not dashing around all the time.  It helps me to pace myself too so I don't get overly tired.  When my hands aren't busy with something else, I can also read a few pages of a good book.

What about you dear reader? How do you relax and chill out when you are super busy?

Hearts Touching Hearts: “Chocolate Chip Cookie Lovers”

Hello friends,

I have a blogging buddy in California who started a blog not so long ago. Her name is Brenda Green and her blog is called Hearts Touching Hearts. Brenda writes about what is on her heart and what the Lord is teaching her. She really has a heart to have a testimony for God. I  met Brenda on line through our mutual love of Africa. She really has a missionary heart.

Photo Credit: Brenda - Isn't she beautiful? Better than that, she has a beautiful heart.

Brenda writes about other things too.  Check out her blog and let her know how you found out about her. Let's spread a little blog love. Blessings and Happy Sunday!

Hearts Touching Hearts: “Chocolate Chip Cookie Lovers”: My dear readers, To all of you who like chocolate chip cookies. I was encouraged to put a little food on my site. so here goes. I just...