Category Archives: Family

This and That

March 23, 2015 Nicole

Just a quick post, update I suppose….

When I started posting poetry, most of the poems were from a collection of jottings and journaling. Memories of years gone by. I did begin writing some new material, yet I felt there was more I wanted to explore.

The last few months, mingled in with holidays, SNOW, a bunch of other funky stuff, MORE SNOW, you get my drift ( lol couldn’t help it 😉 ) I’ve been writing, noticing, listening, pondering.

Playing with perspectives is a big part of it. Choices based on ~~Or not depending on the choice~~of Societies RULES. Following the pack, being like EVERYONE ELSE or not. It’s simple and extremely difficult at the same time.

My Cousin said something to me that was one of those perspective changing moments. I can’t even remember exactly how he said it. Basically, past hurts prevent future experiences.

We write our own story every day. It can be what ever we choose.

How often do we remember that, throughout our hectic day?

Currently I’m working on posting some random writing, poems, affirmations and recipes. Mostly I’m working on my story and enjoying the arrival of spring.

Also, cooking is a hobby of mine, an edible science project! I would love your feedback. (I just need to start taking more pictures) Always seems better as a collaborative effort.

Recipes

Voted via Twitter ~ My First Recipe Post

January 8, 2015 Nicole 2 Comments

I want to give this a whirl, hope it’s not too far away from the poetry!

I’ll start gathering pictures soon. This is a new endeavor, encouraged by my close friends and family!

Eating healthy is really important to me, and I found a lot of really delicious healthy ways to eat. I’d like to share them with you! I do my best to buy organic foods, all natural meat, (especially grass fed) and nothing out of the box or can with preservatives.

Cooking at home, using seasonal healthy foods has has a profound impact on my life. My friends and family who sample this food are amazed at the flavor and depth of the meals. They never realized healthy food could taste so good!

I do not use anything ‘low fat’ as the chemicals and sugars replacing the fat are more detrimental to our health. I always do my best to use healthy fats. These are important for our mental clarity, flexibility, skin, hair and nails, as well as many other functions.

Tonight was a busy night, so the oven becomes my friend. If you like pork chops you will fall in love with this dinner!

Misty’s Quick and Easy Oven Pork Chops

I use a glass baking dish, preheat the oven to 375.

My favorite thing to use is Chef Paul’s Pork Magic. If you don’t have that, use paprika, garlic & onion powders, salt & pepper and some thyme.

Now the rest depends on the size of the dish & the amount of pork. I will get better at measuring soon, I promise 🙂

Cover the bottom of the dish pretty well with your spice(s)
Then add enough water to just cover the bottom of your pan/dish

Place the pork chops in, swirling and flip them so they’re coated.

Put them in the oven, flip over after 15 minutes and then it should be done in 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness. Any longer than 30 minutes they’ll get dry. When you flip the pork chops, you may need to add water.

The best part? All natural, frozen sweet potato fries! They are so good with the pork chops. I just use the juice from the bottom of the pork pan to dip them in;)

And as another side dish, I took frozen asparagus, drizzled two parts grapeseed oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar, some salt and lemon pepper and a pinch of dill.

It will all cook for about the same amount of time.

Meanwhile, I’m not standing in the kitchen for 30-60 minutes!

Even better, use parchment paper to line your bakeware for easy cleanup.

Please let me know what you think and if you have any questions I’ll be happy to help

Family, Photos

Loving life one day at a time

September 30, 2014 Nicole

Today is English day at school. Not the fun part at first, either. I was never a fan of rules myself, and frankly, although important, grammar isn’t fun….normally

I found a great site, TurtleDiary.com and it had so many things to choose from. The different nouns can be confusing. Indeed engaging games were found and learning commenced. We ended with adjectives, a wonderful lunch and reading time on the porch.

We’re reading Tales from the Odyssey, by Mary Pope Osborne. She really makes this classic come alive for the kids. It’s fun to read aloud as well. The best part? Here is the view my son had while listening to me read

As a mother and teacher, I receive so much joy from watching the wistful look on his face, as he imagines, dreams, empathizes and grows inside, learning the morals of the tales. With the sounds of the creek flowing over the rocks, the birds chirping and tufts of cotton (fall pollen is FUN) looking so pretty as the wind sweeps it by….. Nature is always making a movie!

I didn’t want to interrupt his zen moment so I decided to drop the trip back to the earlier lessons of the day. We could pick out ‘non-countable nouns’ and ‘adjectives’ later. All his friends just got off the bus, it’s time to go play 😀

Family, Musings and Madness, Photos

Desperation, great advice and a solution

September 28, 2014 Nicole

I was stressed, couldn’t even read, or type. Too tired to process anything else, I passed out EARLY, before kids, and slept a whole 9 hours

So I wake up to an intact, quiet house (dreaming?) and begin my day. It seemed innocent at first, a few bumps here and there, nothing major, & escaped to a local park to learn about our watershed issues. It was sponsored by the DEP and there were so many cool animals from the college’s herpetology lab among other displays.

A local water crisis really opened our eyes and hopefully most have not forgotten those many days with out water. Our valley faces many chemical and other environmental issues daily. So pretty, yet so toxic. Crazy

Most fish can not be eaten, or only MONTHLY, yup once a month AT MOST because of, get this, NOT ALL THE RUNOFF AND SPILLS

THE AIR

yup, acid rain. nice. im in lowercase because i feel so small. where to start, what can we do to recoup?

The kids learned about the water cycle and lots of other cool things. Hopefully these types of shows help the next generation make better decisions. Get this, even fruit, thrown out a car window, creates a ripple effect of road kill. the little critters bring out the big ones and next thing you know, SPLAT. I’ve never thought that apple core was harmful.

Oh, and we supported the local library 🙂 They are really having a hard time just keeping the utilities up and the technology running. Sad 🙁 Hope the Levy passes.

Now, I home-school my son and today would have been a fun way to give him credit, BUT, he didn’t see it that way, go figure. Said it was Saturday and he didn’t want to do school.

Enter Homeland DRAMA.

The encyclopedia (yes I have those still) proved less fun while still educational 🙂 He forgets that on a Tuesday we goof off while everyone else is at school and work. Oh, and no android, no youtube, no xbox. and yes, that means NO AUDIO BOOK (he’s 8, reads at a 7th gr level)! Read a real book. WE have hundreds! He hates me, he screams, I’m the worst mom EVER, yadayadayada.. I’m laughing by now, done yelling. “Whatever” is my new answer, oh & just get it done…

It’d frankly ridiculous what they feel is torture these days. Dub a tape off the radio lol or wait for Mtv to play a video & try to tape it on a VCR. Anyway,

..Teenage child lost her phone privilege & mad, did not attend show. She got to stay home and clean 🙂 I know, I’m mean. Life is mean too.

I need to know they will have common sense and accountability,be resilient and handle failure as a challenge, be responsible and contribute to society as adults. The rest is up to them.

Until then, welcome to my kingdom.

I was about to lose it. No one would let me get anything done. The internet was slow and losing connectivity (on a Saturday? no, not the we don’t throttle cable company) & both kids were doing homework so I couldn’t reset the router right then..I hop over to cell service and I get an email from my uncle

“So no doors, huh? I don’t have to tell you this, but it will be very challenging to succeed in business if you cannot get some bursts of focused, private time. Especially in a creative business like blogging, marketing and sales. Maybe you could put up a blanket fort with clothespins like we used to do when we were kids. ;-)”

BINGO

Oh, and my official work mug, courtesy of teenage daughter’s beach trip

The kids still have radar, but at least I feel like I have a work space.

Next, is the glass roof bathroom & sunk-in bathtub ( calgon take me away…..) for star-gazing. I’ve got a great view of the southern sky. Someday…

Misty Mountain Reverie

Category Archives: Family

This and That

Voted via Twitter ~ My First Recipe Post

Loving life one day at a time

Desperation, great advice and a solution

Feel the verve, enjoy reflections of the soul