Well, here I am again. Been another long time between posts. OH, well. Lots of stuff going on. Have started a community garden at my library--have ONE tiny raised bed planted and hope to get the other one planted this week. Quite an interesting project and one that I feel very strongly about. Who knew that I would turn out to be a gardener??? I'm quite sure that part of my mother's spirit instilled itself into me after she died--she was a great gardener but I never was. NOW I want to turn every unused bit of soil into food production. Crazy for lazy me!!

Still knitting and loving it. Have a couple of knitting groups going at my library. Those are really fun. One is for tweens/teens but have their little sisters too and mothers. The other one is an adult group. Need I mention that I LOVE my job????!!! WHY oh why did it take me 40 years to find my niche???  Well, at least I DID find it, I guess some poor souls never do. More on that later, probably much later!!

Ah, good intentions go the way of the wind, I guess!! Well, I now have a new good intention. After a couple of weeks of turning my house and closets and rooms and cabinets upside down looking for a PIECE OF PAPER, I have decided to let many of my possessions go. I have way too much stuff and I want to get it down to those things I absolutely love and adore and HAVE to have. That would be my knitting and a very few dolls. A few books and really not too much else. I've spent too much time searching for "stuff" and having to go through EVERYTHING over and over, and frankly, I'm just not that organized to have a lot of stuff. SO...my intention (would say resolution but it's not the New Year and anyway NO ONE keeps those!!!) is to get my stuff down to a manageable level and to keep it organized.  Will post pictures later maybe!!!!!

Oh, man, how the time does fly!! Guess I've been having too much fun. Hmmm....maybe not. Lots of changes since I've last blogged. My daugher has graduated from college, gotten married and moved to Korea to teach English. She and her husband are having a great time so far. I'm so proud of their big decision and even bigger steps to accomplish it. I would never have had the courage to move so far away even if that opportunity had been available when I was that age.  We've been skyping but now my video camera on my computer seems to have died.  Not a good thing. Oh well, I can at least still see her.

Whistling in the wind!! & past due relationships

I've been riding my red bicycle to work and around the neighborhoods when I don't ride it to work. It makes me feel so much better. Maybe the endorphins are kicking in, or maybe I just like to ride in the wind--whistling. And in this last March, I was whistling in the wind a LOT. Sometimes it almost seemed as if the wind was blowing me backwards. I'll have to take a picture of my bike--when I find my camera! I've put it in a safe place--safe even from me.

Ok, here's the second part of my post. Past Due Relationships. Is it just women who stay in relationships too long--long after they work??? I'm not necessarily talking about marriage but friendships. There are a couple I have in mind--friendships that is--that are long past overdue. Being with these women stress me to the gills, we no longer have anything in common and our personalities clash. One woman and I have friends in common so I will be seeing her occasionally, and I can deal with that on a once in a great while occurrence.

Update, relationships with these 2 women have ended--I don't see them anymore and quite frankly it's been a blessing. I'm no longer stressed about it, and I'm sure they are happier too, and hopefully we've both moved on. I do cherish my memories of happier times with them and maybe in the future we can reconnect once in a while.  We grow and things change and we have to change too or stagnant in our own junk.
 

The glory of a red bicycle!!!

I have my "new" vintage bike--and I have ridden it to work!!! WOOHOO!!! Did have to stop a couple of times to gasp for air but hopefully when I've gotten more miles under my belt that will stop. After I got to work and after a few minutes I felt soooooo great--maybe the endorphins kicked in. I'll try to post a picture of it, but I have to find my camera first, I've put it "somewhere" safe--evidently safe from ME!!

Forgive me blog, for I have neglected you!!

Well, so much for resolutions about blogging, but I've resolved to do some everyday or so. I have found a reason for my recent weight gain and hopefully will be able to reverse that soon. I found out last summer that I have celiac which means anything with wheat or wheat products cause an awful immune system response that involves the small intestine. I saw my gastro guy a week ago and he said the fact that I've gained weight since I've gone gluten-free indicates that my body is now absorbing nutrients etc. Hmmm...kinda a double-edged sword, me thinks. Also, gluten-free foods tend to have more fat and sugar to make them taste better. So I've bought a vintage Schwinn Hollywood Cruiser bike from G. Oscar's Bike Shop in Tulsa and I plan to ride it to work. Ok, I only work a mile from my house so I'll have to ride a little more than that every day to really help me much. But I've always LOVED to ride bikes and this bike is just like the one I used to have and sold in a "garage sale frenzy fit". I'm excited to replace my old bike. I had bought a Free Spirit bike a few years ago but it just didn't sit like my old Schwinn so I didn't ride it much. I have a couple of friends who are thinking of getting bikes also and we can meet up at the River Parks and ride there some. WOOHOO!!

I'm going to be blogging more about my experience with celiac--I guess I could term it a love/hate relationship. I hate that I can't have fresh hot yeasty bread anymore (or even stale cold crusty yeasty bread!!!), I wandered the bakery side of Reasor's this afternoon looking for some gluten-free options--didn't find any there but almost left crying because the cakes and bread looked sooooo good, and would make me feel sooooooo bad if I ate them. I told my husband that I just wanted to fall face down in them and wallow all over them. Oh, well. I did get a Pillsbury gluten-free chocolate chip cookie mix and made that, added English walnuts and oh, man!! They are WONDERFUL!!!! Enough to banish the "gluten-free woe is me" feeling. Mike said they were outstanding, and the chocolate cake I made a few weeks ago he said the same thing about it. So this is a good time to have celiac as there are more and more good things coming out. Now if I can just find a good bread mix!! I haven't made any bread yet so there may be some!! I hope so.

I am one of those few people this year who is loving the cold and snow, that's another indication that my body is using the food nutrients. Last winter I was cold and miserable the whole time but I'm not feeling the cold as much. I am almost ready for spring though and certainly will be by the time I get my bike home (I'm picking it up probably Tuesday). I'll be ready to ride--to work and all around the town. I'll be the crazy librarian on the red retro bike!! WOOHOO!

YIKES! Where's the will power???!!

I've always known that around sugar I'm a weak person. I can resist almost anything else but something sweet gets me every time. This time it was Braum's. And I didn't have 10% less!! My husband might have because after I finished mine I started on HIS. Oh, well, it didn't cause me too much grief, I'll just do better today. And tomorrow. I know that I'm going to slip up but it won't cause me to throw in the towel.

I LOVE snow, I think it's one of the most beautiful things on earth. I love to watch it fall, I love to see it on the ground, I just love it. My daughter Lucy has the gift of being able to "smell snow", she can actually smell the air and tell if it's going to snow. She is always correct in this too. It's an amazing gift I think. She loves snow too, she's like a snowbunny--she's always out in it playing. She has a great gift for playing too. Not everyone has that gift. I think I have it, I love to play--and will drop everything I NEED to do to go play. That is the best gift of all--the ability to play and enjoy life. True, my house is a mess, but my husband likes to play too so we're ok with it.

And the last thing I want to say is...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!