Cookin' with Lurlene - Now that's just a shame

I hate waste'n stuff, especially food.  I grew up like most folks with the fear of starvin' children in Timbucktoo, and how not cleanin' my plate was gonna make it even worse for'um.  I grew up with guilt...food guilt...guilt if I ate it...guilt if I didn't.

Guilt cause Momma cooked it and I didn't like it...Guilt cause Daddy worked hard to put that food on the table...Guilt cause I wanted more and there wasn't any...Guilt cause I fed it to the cat when nobody was lookin'.  Food...my guilty pleasure.

It's a shame what happens around the table, but be that as it may, now that I'm older and there's nobody to guilt me... I just continue to do it to myself.   

This mornin' I opened the fridg and had to shake my head at the hodgepodge of stuff shoved in there, which is always the case after a gatherin'.  I had Non-Fat Greek yogurt left over from my effort to "cut back", not so fresh strawberries that didn't make the cut for Mr. Pat's Strawberry Dream Cake...and then there was that strawberry cream cheese fillin that I just couldn't continue to spread between those layers of said Dream Cake.  Lord, have mercy, before my eyes was a  proverbial box of shame that needed to be righted.    

So as I was  shushin' the voice (that sounds right much like Gordon Ramsey)  in my head that continues to instruct me to use only the freshest ingredients...I started thinkin of a way to use this stuff up before it went back.  

Then I remembered them...my old popsicle molds, and a grin crossed my face as wide as a summer watermelon slice.  Perfect,  I would have my cheesecake and over-ripe berries too.  My Grand-Momma would be so proud.  So here you go....

Use what you got and taste till you like it... 
Strawberry Cheesecake Greek Yogurt Pops

• About 15 overripe strawberries
• The rest of the strawberry cream fillin
• A blob of Non-Fat Greek Yogurt
• One packet of Splenda or what ever you have stashed in your purse from the last time you asked for unsweet tea and then doctored it with Pink-Blue-or Yellow poison.
• Squirt of lime left over from those margaritas

Put it all in the blender (if its out...and I am sure it is) or the food processor and whirrrrrr until it looks like you want it to.  Taste...add what ever....perhaps some rum or tequila if you think it needs to be medicinal.

Fill Popsicle molds and if you want...write on the sticks with a Sharpie...sure it won't kill you.  Lord knows it stinks, but I didn't see anywhere where it wasn't safe to eat.  (Oh well...try not to write on the part that actually goes in the Pop)

And last...lick the spoon and save some for the cat...now trained to come runnin' when he hears the mixer.  Stick in the freezer (oh Lord...that's another land unto itself) and pat yourself on the back.  Another starvin' child saved to eat another day.

Bon Appetite






  

  

The Righting Lesson

The other day I was walkin' the track and I glanced down for an instant and saw this beetle on her back..bein' in mid stride I passed her...but I heard Miss Universe say, go back...you can help here. 

It made me wonder...what if...just what if...this small act in this brief moment was already changing something else...for the good?
 
Each day there are infinite opportunities to right something...with a kind word or a tiny deed. Backsteppin' may not always be a bad thing.

Toe to Toe

 When it rains...I usually clean out the closet, and for me that is the equivalent of reading an old journal, especially where shoes are concerned. I remember the first night I forced my feet into these.








 I remember dancin' till the sun came up and limpin' for the next week.

I remember feelin' like a black crow flyin'. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWA4bCXDdXc

In my defense, Your Honor

We have defense mechanisms for a reason. 

I get you…I get all of you out there coping with situations you can’t “Fix”.  I’m a fixer too, I even have an advanced degree in it…and yet those years of experience and education won’t make my heart stop racing when I have to cope with things on a personal level.  Hurt is hurt.

When I can’t wrap my rational mind around something, when I can’t make it go away with reason or assurance, when I can’t “draw” it away with cards, I often turn to yet another coping mechanism, intellectualizing. Big word, simple meaning:

Intellectualizing protects against anxiety by repressing the emotions connected with an event.

So here I am, someone I love is suffering from a delusional disorder, it used to be called paranoid disorder, or in simple terms is the inability to tell what is real from what is imagined.  No matter what it is called, the main feature is the presence of unshakable beliefs in something untrue.  Most times these folks can continue to socialize and function normally, apart from the subject of their delusion, which they tend to go after with abandon.  


At any rate, it makes life…difficult…and sometimes, well most times, extremely stressful…which lead me to sit down and study it like I was in grad school.  Does intellectualizing work?  Well, for me, it's like a warm compress on a sore muscle, feels good for a bit, but after while, the towel cools and then you are right back where you started. 


A strange post for the Book of Lurlene but we are all out here…using whatever it takes  to get by...so go easy on your monsters.

There's an App for that

I use my i-thing for almost nothing...I dreamed I would be more productive, but it didn't work out that way.
It's my bubble gum, my mindless wandering tool. I tried playing solitaire, but all the games seem to want you to be competitive - even if against yourself. Please...those days are long gone.

I did, however, find this little magnet poetry App. Its free...and it gave me another outlet to play with words. You can only write with the select few they give you...so I have surprised my poetic self time and time again.
 Here's today's...Lazy Lurlene

My Un-doin'

Question: When do you just let stuff go...and when to you look it in the eye and say, "Enough already". 
What if there is actual stuff that NEEDS to be heard, known, and said? 

Beleive it or not, I am not a confrontational sort.  I'm sassy and truth be told I like the last word, but I don't ever crawl up in your face to have it.  More often than not I take it as I mumble off into my corner wonderin' what in the heck you've been dippin into. 

Most time I just "let it go" and after a good bit of seething and some premium carbs I can just chalk things up to folks own "personal problems" and move on.

But lately, I'm findin that that two step solution isn't workin' for me anymore.   Maybe I'm havin' an indignant moment but is it wrong to every now and then to expect an honest to goodness apology? 

The Recoil or ...mgvg = -mbvb

I’ve been working on this card for a couple of days, trying to capture the simple physics of the recoil.

Now and again there are things that just defy the laws of physics, especially when self preservation is involved.

Early on I learned that there are folks out there that are far more driven than I will ever be, folks who want to win more than I ever will. 

My Daddy had a sayin', " I may not always be right, but I am never wrong".  That was his truth, and there was no changin' it. 

Backin’ away isn’t always a bad thing.

I think we all choose our battles.