The first harbinger of spring

February 1, 2011February 1, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, local fun, restaurants

I have some happy news for all of you that live here in southern Maine. Spring is nigh. How do I know this? Because:

THE DAIRY QUEEN IS OPENING TODAY!!!!

If your family is anything like mine, you’ve been counting the days until the DQ reopened…well count no more.

Now, after Memorial Day weekend and before Labor Day weekend, there is no shortage of places to get your ice cream fix here in southern Maine, but after that, who’s got your back baby? Only DQ; they hang in there until well into December, so it’s hard to begrudge them their little break, but by February 1st, we are SO READY to see them again!!!

Actually, I wonder…maybe with the coming upwards of 2 feet of snow over the next two days…they may reconsider their plan. Probably best to check first. I did call the Wells DQ and they are currently open (today, 11:00AM) but said that tomorrow “is iffy”, depending on what happens with the weather.

You have two from which to choose: Kennebunk (985-3050) or Wells (646-8212). If you get the SuperCoupon mailer (and you didn’t throw it into the recycle already) there’s some good coupons in there so go get ’em!

P.S. Ask what the “Blizzard of the Month” flavor is!

Water torture? Not!

January 30, 2011January 30, 2011 by Karen, posted in books, health

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~Wayne Dyer

Last night I was trying to shut off my (monkey) mind long enough to fall asleep when I became aware of a noise that at first I couldn’t place.

What was it? Oh no…drip, drip, drip….It was water. Dripping water, like of the water torture variety. A little more investigation gleaned some annoying information: it was from somewhere outside. You know, so that it couldn’t be shut off. OMG. I could feel my blood pressure inching up as I was freaking out about my coming sure-to-be-sleepless night of listening to the drip-drip-dripping water (icicles melting from the roof) when I suddenly had another thought. This time though, it was a useful thought.

It was Wayne Dyer’s quote (above) that popped into my head. I had heard it earlier that day in an audiobook. There was not a thing on God’s green earth that I could do at 10 o’clock at night to stop the dripping water outside, but hey, maybe I could change how I was thinking about the dripping water?

I gave it a try:

I’m grateful for the roof over my head.
I’m happy to be in my own bed in my own home.
Maybe the dripping is not so bad?
What if I try to meditate? I could say the “So Hum” meditation (the one that I know I can do without thinking too much about it).
What if every time I notice a drip, I (mentally) say the word “So”, then the next drip, I say the word “Hum”, and so on? Which at least gave me something constructive to do and actually might coax my blood pressure back down to an acceptable level?

Well…guess what! It worked! I still heard it, but it didn’t make me anxious or mad anymore. In an odd sort of way, it felt comforting. So here’s a corollary to Wayne’s quote: If you change the way you listen to things, the things you listen to change.

🙂

You, Mii, and Wii

January 27, 2011 by Karen, posted in family, fitness, health, Holidays, tweens

Hate exercise? Mii too. Well, I do if you are referring to

Going to the gym
Jogging
Stairmaster
Shoveling

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you are not shocked by this admission. I do to practice yoga and like to hula hoop, but getting exercise is a byproduct (for me) of the activity, not the goal.

Enter Christmas. Enter the Wii. Now, when I used to go to Curves, some of the older (than me) women would talk about how much they enjoyed exercising with their Wii Fit games. I was interested in their stories, but not motivated in finding out any more about it.

Then I went to my brother’s house for Christmas and they were using their Wii and the kids were having so much fun that I thought, “Hey, maybe there is something to this…” When my 12-year-old niece persuaded my brother to get off the couch and dance to “Viva Las Vegas” with her, I made up my mind to get that game for my family.

I’ve never looked back. After I bought the console to play the games, which came with one controller and one nunchuk, I sprang for an additional controller and nunchuk. You need two of each to play against each other in boxing, and my daughter wanted to box with me (should I read anything into that??).

It’s really only me and my tween daughter (and her friends) using the Wii right now, but I’m hopeful that my husband will join in at some point (hey, virtual boxing with your spouse could expel a lot of demons, don’t you think?). I made a “Mii” for him already (and he’s a hunk!) so he’ll be all set to go.

Can’t wait to knock him out.

🙂

The Universe’s ‘to-do’ list

January 25, 2011 by Karen, posted in books, education

I was rereading the book Ask and It Is Given by Jerry and Esther Hicks (which happened to be a book that I already owned) after my friend Stacey Brooks of Mainely You Massage recommended it. In it, the authors describe 22 processes that anyone can practice to improve their life.

One of them is a twist on a ‘to-do’ list. Here’s what you do: get a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side at the top of the column write “My ‘to-do’ list” and put down the things that you want to get done today. No writing down a hundred things; just the things that you really will do that day.

On the other side of the paper, write “The Universe’s ‘to-do’ list” and put down all of those other things that you want to get done, but don’t know how to get them done (or just don’t feel like actually doing).

I had been looking for something I had misplaced for a week with no luck, so I figured, What the heck? I got dutifully got out my paper, made my two columns, and on the left (my) side, I wrote: write, read, work, have fun and feel good. On the right (Universe’s) side I wrote (among other things) : return my water cup in the black tote to me.

Then I forgot about it. An hour later, I had located my lost item! I didn’t even remember writing the list until several hours after that when I was gathering up my papers to get ready to leave work.

Maybe it was a coincidence?

Cupcake Bakery in Sanford

January 23, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, baking, fitness, friends, local fun, quest for the best, tweens

coco bunny aerial — Coconut Bunny cupcake (one of the "Groupies")

I was returning my books at the library this weekend, two of which happened to be about cake baking, when one of the staffers said, “Have you tried that new cupcake bakery in Sanford?” “There’s a new cupcake bakery in Sanford??” I asked (of course, she had me at “cupcake”). She did a little research for me and discovered Cupcake Fetish Bakery, 883 Main Street in Sanford.

An hour and a half later, we were there. It’s in a little group of stores next to Get Fired Up! The parking lot is just before the shops, and if you see St. Ignatius St. on your right, go back! You’ve just passed it.

When you enter the shop, the counter is on the right, but if you look to the left, you’ll see Amy the baker through the window, plying her craft. Jennifer will take your cupcake order, which you can get boxed up to go, or you might choose to sit at one of the cute little tables (as my daughter Izzy and her friend Madi did) in the shop.

Our choices today were a Chocolate Dream Warrior cupcake with pink vanilla bean frosting, a MegaDough cupcake (complete with chocolate chip cookie on the top and cookie dough hidden inside!), and a red velvet whoopie pie. We took a Coconut Bunny cupcake and a traditional chocolate whoopie pie home with us. All were excellent.

There are different items every day, but not all of the menu items are available every day, so check out their Facebook Page to find out what they are offering the day that you are going. They categorize the cupcakes as “Groupies” and “Rock Stars”… hmmm…wonder what that’s about?

Note: the menu states that they will close early if they sell out!

After the bakery? An hour of Wii Just Dance 2 to work off the goodies. 🙂

Verdict: worth the trip.

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White-knuckled driving

January 22, 2011 by Karen, posted in no fear

That’s me: get a flake of snow on the ground (or even the threat of a flake) and I go into panic mode.

When I have to drive in bad weather, you will know me by my 20 mph speed, hazard lights a-flashin’, both hands firmly placed on the steering wheel as I softly mouth the mantra: “10 and 2; 10 and 2″…the classic (safest?) hand position when driving, as recalled from my high school drivers ed classes.

I trace this back to a car accident January 11, 1996 (okay, so what if it was fifteen years ago! It feels like it was just yesterday!).

I had to leave for work early that day, so I got myself and my son ready to go and we headed out the door. First stop was grammie’s house to drop my son off for the morning (for babysitting purposes) and then I would continue on to work.

We had experienced one of those storms that is composed of the “dreaded wintry mix” (rain, freezing rain, snow, sleet, or all of the above) the night before, and then the temperature dropped and froze everything. In the morning, a light snowfall began that covered up all of the ice that was on the roads from the previous night’s storm.

I was a cautious driver when it snowed, but not overly anxious or anything. I was going fairly slowly down my street and as I approached an intersection with a stop sign, I applied the brakes…and nothing happened. My car continued to sail along the snow-covered ice and, instead of slowing down, it started to actually pick up speed. I had just about enough time to see the car heading for me from the right side of the intersection, and that was it.

Next thing I knew, my (then) 5 year old son was shaking my shoulder, “Mom! Wake up!” Why was everything so blurry? Ah…my glasses (not to mention my cell phone) were missing in action.

It took me several seconds to realize that the air bag had deployed, which had knocked me unconscious for (probably) a minute or so. A nice man who heard the crash from inside his home across the street called 911, and was there telling me that help was on the way.

Anyway, all of my injuries (fortunately) healed over time. I am now left with just a residual Driving in the Snow Panic that descends every time there is a chance that I might have to (you guessed it) drive in the snow.

May I just say that it’s been a tough winter so far?

Snow day top 10 fun things to do (Part 2)!

January 20, 2011January 20, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, fitness, local fun, tweens

Can you believe that we’re (possibly) getting (yet) another storm tomorrow? Just in case you exhausted your personal Top 10 list of things to do, here’s another bunch of ideas.

Go sledding. By now, you (most likely) have piles of snow that are plenty big enough for the kids to sled on right in your yard.
Go snowshoeing and/or ice skating (if it’s possible to get to a rink).
Have a snowball fight. Better yet, suggest it to the kids and you (mom or dad) stay safely in the house and watch from the window.
Go swimming…if only to break up the monotony. Lots of hotels/inns offer off-season (read: cheap) passes you can buy to use their pool.
Send them outside with their hula hoop. Really.
Have a “P” picnic (not that kind of “P”! Been spending too much time with the pre-schoolers??). Pizza, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pancakes, popcorn, pretzels, pineapple chunks…have it INDOORS. Spread out an old quilt/blanket/sheet on the living room floor (move the coffee table, or whatever ou of the way) and have your picnic supper in front of the TV for a treat.
Wii Just Dance 2…this is worth the effort for mom and/or dad to get up off the couch to play.
Make cocoa. This make some planning to make sure you have some in the house before it snows. Swiss Miss is good enough (per Consumer Reports), especially if you top it off with mini-marshmallows, whipped cream, cool whip (or all of the above)…Fluff will also do the job very nicely (careful that the volume of Fluff doesn’t outstrip the portion of cocoa. 🙂 )
Pretend it’s still summer. Send the kids out to play with their sand pails and shovels (or kitchen utensils and plastic Tupperware bowls) to dig (or “cook”) in the snow.
Make snow angels. Take pictures for the scrapbook.

Finally: avoid keeping the TV on those news programs that just spew an endless loop of doom and gloom and have some fun instead!

Kate Braestrup’s new book

January 18, 2011February 24, 2011 by Karen, posted in books, family

Kate Braestrup’s new book is Beginner’s Grace and is a book about prayer: learning about it, thinking about it, finding occasions to engage in it. Kate talks about occasions of prayer that are present in one’s everyday life, and offers some simple words that people can use if they don’t already have their own. She describes prayer as a “practice”, like yoga, or medicine.

For people who want to pray but aren’t sure how to begin, or can’t remember to pray, or don’t know what to say, she firsts suggests that you try linking praying to another activity that you are unlikely to forget to do on any given day: eating, toothbrushing. She also shares some small prayers that you can say if you don’t already have one in mind. My favorite is the all-purpose, universal, emergency prayer that Kate says everyone already knows: “OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod!!!”

Other prayer-worthy occasions: bedtime, plane rides, loved ones leaving the house for the day (“threshold” prayers), illnesses and accidents. Kate also shares stories from her job as the chaplain to the Maine Game Warden Service, which are always interesting. What I love about Kate’s writing is that she delivers her message with such warmth and humor that you almost don’t realize that you are actually learning from her writing.

My only other comment is this: I listened to this book on audio CD, and was disappointed that it was not read by the author, as were Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, and Here if You Need Me. I think reading it was a “lesser” experience than it would have been if Kate’s voice had delivered her own words. (Oh, and that whole part about “feet?” Whaaaa….?)

My new year’s word: Part 2

January 16, 2011January 19, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, Holidays, Karen's Kitchen, Pantry Project, writing

I finally did choose my one word for 2011; my word is: EDIT. I’m loving this word for many reasons.

I can actually remember it! It works its way up from my unconscious with very little effort on my part. Bam! It’s there, remember to ‘edit’!
It applies to my Pantry Project: use the food I have already before going out to buy more food. I’m editing my pantry (and freezer and fridge) contents by using up what’s there already. Today: Chicken Orzo Soup in the crock pot; all ingredients already here in the pantry (orzo, bay leaf, parsley, chicken broth, onions, garlic) and freezer (chicken thighs, end of a block of parm cheese) and fridge (tomato paste, carrots).
It applies to my book: I finished the book and now am working on the editing.
It applies to my (and everyone else’s too, actually) closet. I’m working on whittling the contents of all of them (hint: do the tween’s closet when she’s not at home) so that we have more space. 🙂
It applies to my diet: I’m trying to eat less. Editing the choices that are readily available makes eating better more likely (hel-lo….can’t eat the cookies at 10pm if there aren’t any in the house). Full disclosure: this one is one of those obvious things that my husband pointed out to me.

How’s it going for the rest of you with your new year’s word/resolutions?

A room with a view

January 13, 2011January 14, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, writing

My view this morning day 2 — The view from my room this morning

I got to have an entire room of my own (with a view!) in which to work on editing my book.

This is big; you see, I’ve never had my own room before.

My husband, after realizing that I had an extra day off this week said, “Hey, get a room!”…Well, even though he didn’t mean what I thought he meant…it still turned out to be a great thing.

Here’s what he proposed: I get a room, pack up my laptop, book draft, notebooks, and anything else I thought I’d need, go there and work on my book. Alone. Away from the laundry. Away from the dishes. Away from the fam (I love them all, but I always stop what I’m doing because I want to do things for them, as my husband pointed out, instead of doing things for me).

I arrived at the (cheap! off-season! weekday rate!) room around 1:45pm, worked until 6pm, when my husband and daughter arrived with supper. It was one of my favorite meals: sausage pizza from Spiller Farm (Jeannine Spiller makes an awesome pizza!) and a bottle of Diet Coke. We ate together, balancing pizza on napkins on our laps as we perched on the edge of the bed (Izzy got the chair). Life was good. Then they went home and I continued working until 10pm.

Having a great excuse (for the second week in a row) to skip the gym, I picked up some pre-dawn breakfast and got back to work by 6:45am. I worked until noon and managed to finish the first round of edits on my manuscript. While I was working, I set a timer, and every thirty minutes I took a break, jumped up to do a minute or two of yoga, then got back to work.

Structure…it’s a beautiful thing. 🙂

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