Cook, Make, Think

 

 https://www.pinterest.ca/cherylmarois/10-october-2020/emotional-intelligence/ Here is what I know, I am tired. This has been a long moth almost like a February but much more active. I plan to post in November on the regular but I also want to concentrate on a couple of other things like writing 5000 words a day as part of National Writing Month in addition to what I post here.

 

 "In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow" Poppies are the symbol for this day and as such should be prominent in your decorations. Even if it is just a bouquet of poppies on your table do something to show your support of the men and women who died to defend our right to live as we want. If you are a little more creative you can try one of these wreaths for your front door. For now, see what you can find and check out my board for other ideas . I'll talk more about this as we get closer to the day.

 Last week was a strange week for me. I always have a hard time adjusting to sleeping alone after the Professor goes back home but it was worse than usual this time and I don't know why. I was sleeping 2hrs here & 2 hrs there and on Thursday It was more like 30 minutes here and there. Then Friday I slept most of the day spending only about 4 hours awake during the whole day. Saturday I was awake a bit more but that was because I was expecting the littles and forced myself to get up & prepare. The funny part is that the days I was not sleeping I had more energy and manage to clean or straighten my whole apartment. I am not sure why that was. Hopefully this week I have settled back into my usual schedule so far so good but time will tell.

 Why does Art Matter? And, if truth be told, I don't really believe that art is escapist. I believe that art provides a sensory experience that, on the contrary, can be restorative. Art gives our eyes and mind a chance to rest, to muse, to think. Looking at art, we reconnect with our inner spirit, a spirit that is rich in thoughts, feelings, and dreams, a spirit that can't be bankrupted, no matter what is happening in the financial markets. Though that was written in 2009 it still holds true today perhaps more than ever. With all that this year has brought Art has become even more important. Art is creation, a reminder that no matter how gray our world is right now there is a light just around the corner. The arts matter because they are local and relevant to the needs and wishes of local people. They help citizens to express their needs and to clothe them in memorable forms. They offer a way of expressing ideas and wishes that ordinary politics do not allow. The arts regener

 Red Chili also known as Chili Con Carne is something I've known about most of my adult life and was the second recipe I adapted to suit my prefered style of cooking which includes lots & lots of vegetables you would not consider putting in chili, like carrots. The standard chili recipe includes a tomato sauce of some sort (I use canned spaghetti sauce), ground beef, onions, celery, peppers & kidney beans( again I use canned). You stick it in a pot on medium if you want it fast or on low if you want it good. I only add two spices one, of course, is Chili powder the other is an Italian herb mix that I picked up at the grocery store. Add these to taste. ( I usually end up using a quarter cup of chilli powder and a couple of tablespoons of the Italian mix but then I like my chili moderately spicy). For an added kick just before serving mix in a couple of teaspoons of Tabasco sauce. I cook it for several hours on low for the tastes to mix and for the meat & vegetables to c

Jay Sheety says: B reak habits that don't suit you R emember things you are grateful for E as your body A llow yourself to slow down T ake a moment to relax H ealth is your priority E ase your mind Tony Robbins says :

 

 10 day until Halloween! 10 days until the Pagan New Year's Day! I'm a bit sad that the trick or treating part of Halloween likely won't happen this year but it has been slowly on the way out since they found razor blades in apples a long time ago. I think parties would be more fun anyway except that this year even that may be out. They have tried to cancel Halloween for the last 10 years or so- looks like this pandemic will make it a reality. Doesn't mean that you can't have a little Halloween fun even if it's just you who will see it. Let us start with the colours ... black & orange are the colours of the day . They usually add green and purple and yellow as well but other than the yellow to provide light for the dead to follow I don't think they count as much as orange & black.  Yes, I said the dead as in Pagan Mythology this is the day we will most likely be able to speak with the ghost of our ancestors as the veil between life and death is very

 My hands shake, not in a noticeable way if you are just looking at me, in a consistently low-level quiver. If that were the worst of it I would not complain but occasionally when I am holding something they will shake noticeably until I focus on them and tell them to stop. I do not know why that works but it does. I think it may be a combination of the random nerve firings associated with fibro and a side effect of one of the medications I take for my depression. But then there are times like this morning that actually cause my hands or arms I'm not sure which to jerk suddenly spilling anything that happens to be in them. This morning it was my AM medication other times I've lost bowls of soup or plates of salad. Though I have suffered from restless leg syndrome for years it's only recently that I've noticed the same thing happening with my arms during the day. Not often yet but it is becoming more frequent. It was bad enough when my body does a full-body jerk when I&#

 

 Until a few years ago I didn't know that white chili existed. After trying it I wish I had known about it before as it is tasty and that special word "healthy". Healthy seems to be coming up a lot for me so I am considering choosing it for my word for my 60ith year.  Anyway check out this recipe at Tastes Better From Scratch or this one at Just Plain Chicken and give it a try this week Image from Simply Recipes

 Should have said something earlier but I have been debating with myself. If you know me you know I don't leave my home much so I don't really have a field trip to share (good intentions and all that) but if you go to my Pinterest board you will see a lot of options for Virtual Field Trips . Have fun!

Which ones do you need to improve? For me I could use a little help in all of them!

This and all following printables are from  Heather Greutman - Growing Hands-On Kids  

 Autumn has its very own colour palette that makes you feel all warm & toasty though those later days leading to winter are anything but. Obviously as a Canadian the colours I most associate with fall are the colours of the maple leaves as they prepare for their long winters sleep. (It occurs to me that the colours I associate with all the seasons are based on the maple tree, must be a Canadian thing😊 ) These are leaves from a silver maple and when we go looking for the autumn colours these are the colours we look for. Anyway on to the decorate part. Typically October has two main subjects in the decorations. One is the leaves of course and the other is anything harvest related. Country Living has a set of 60 slides that I suggest you take a look at as they are all incredibly beautiful though my favourite is this one . Be warned that there is an option to buy parts of the display on Amazon so keep a tight hold of your wallet because they are tempting if a trifle expensive. I don&

 I had a hard time trying to think about what I wanted to write here until I found something of interest put out by the Getty Museum . It looks like so much fun to try though I don't know if I will still it's fun to look at! I tried to find the original request/challenge but it was a long way back so I decided to copy the information from designboom where I first read about it. If you want to check out more challenges check out Getty's account on twitter the getty  museum  in los angeles is challenging people to recreate their favorite artworks using themselves as the subjects and household objects as their props.   asking people to get creative during their time using just three things lying around the house.  since then, the museum’s social media has been flooded with responses ranging from impressive re-creations of classics including master of saint cecilia’s madonna and child, the anonymously created virgin, saint elizabeth, and the infants john the baptist and christ

 My apologies for the missing posts I will try to get them up this week. It has been a very busy week between four birthdays, a big birthday party and Thanksgiving as well as having the Professor actually here for 10 days instead of just a few hours. I loved every moment of it but I am beyond worn out at this point Baby Sis, her girls & her grandchild My daughter, her husband GD#1, GS#1, GS#2 My son with GD's 3 &4, GS#3 GD#1 (in back), Her cousins Jen & Vic All of my grandchildren except for GD#2 & GD#5 GS#1 on his birthday All of us including the Professor & me. The munchkin in the front is Damien, he is Vic's son and my sisters only Grandchild. Vic is the short redhead in the back beside the Professor.  It was worth the wait. The restaurant was reasonably priced. We were given a room that was big enough that the little ones were able to move around and use up their energy. The service was super and the food delicious though the servings were a trifle too l

 This is not what I think of when I think of chili but I suppose that is because I make an unspicy version of it. Still, it sounds pretty good and is something I definitely want to try What is Green Chili? Green chili is a delicious pork stew (and very different than our traditional  beef and bean chili recipe ).  Green chiles, tomatillos, onions and cilantro are all blended to create a fabulous base for this recipe. Going into the pot it’s a bright green but it turns a beautiful golden colour as it cooks.

  Happy Birthday to My son! Look at it and decide which you saw first then go to the Mind Journal site and learn what it means; alternatively, you can take this little quiz from the same place to learn a little more. According to the test I am emotionally intelligent despite what I think sometimes.

Happy Birthday! GS#1 You are the reason I am curious about all things Autism and I love you! For a free printable about SPD check out The OT Toolbox . 

 Happy Birthday to me Thanksgiving is five days away plenty of time to do a couple of things to make it festive even if you are only doing it for yourself. If you have a cafe table or a table with multiple leaves you can decorate cheaply and if you are like me you have the basic ingredients to make a cookie or two as a treat in the house. So if you don't get or haven't spent all of your GST yet go to your nearest dollar store and pick up a basic thanksgiving, autumn set of party stuff. You know a tablecloth, some paper plates & napkins and set your table with them.  Now doesn't that feel festive?  Next find a small jar and a votive (candle). Go outside and pick a few of the colourful leaves off the nearby trees or if you are still at the dollar store pick up some fake leaves. Depending on the size of the jar you will need between four and ten mid size leaves. I like maple because they are very colourful and of a large size. Get your mod podge and a sponge brush then fo

 Who else would I be? Happy Birthday GD#1 Being yourself  means you like who you are.  Being yourself  means living life how you want to live it, regardless of other people's opinions. And it means you respect  yourself . Don't worry about what others think. You can't control them or their thoughts. I do and I am to the best of my ability being myself every day. I do not always succeed at this but I do try. The problem though is that myself really isn't a nice person though some people seem to think I am. I am a self-centred, lazy ass bitch most of the time. I just interact with people outside my home as little as possible so they only see the best of me. It saves time and misunderstandings when I speak without considering any of the unspoken politics we live with every day if I am not around people who provoke me. That may seem like a cowards way of dealing with thought and behaviours that are not  of the "Societal Normal". But again it saves a lot of has

  Art In the Time of Covid A rt in the Time of COVID-19  is a panel discussion that explores how we value art and artists during a time of crisis. Even though many artists are increasingly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re finding new and innovative ways to share their work for our collective well-being. Join us and our stellar panel of arts innovators as we reflect on the intersectional vulnerabilities presented by COVID-19, and what our engagement with the arts during this time can tell us about the value of arts and culture in our society. After the COVID-19 restrictions took effect, and OCAD University closed its doors, we quickly switched to online learning to complete the semester. In this unprecedented and unique time, we had no idea how our Drawing and Painting students might respond to the pandemic. They had very little access to art supplies and no access to studios. They had been physically separated from their classmates and faculty. These restrictions were also

  Chili con carne Chili, a new world recipe, originally meant beans served in a spicy tomato sauce. This nutritionally balanced combination was known to ancient Aztec and Mayan cooks. Food historians generally agree chili con carne is an American recipe with Mexican roots. "Con carne" means with meat (Carne is the Spanish word for meat). Our survey of historic newspapers suggests the  original recipe  was just chili (powder) and meat. Today in the United States, chile con carne is usually a combination of beans, sauce and ground beef. It can be made at home, selected from restaurant menus or purchased (ready-made or in kits) from food stores. Dedicated southwestern chili afficionados concentrate on spices, not the meat. Unless? Of course, they live in Texas. "Chili con carne sounds authentically Spanish, which it could hardly be, for the Spaniards had never seen a chili before they reached America; it was an element of Indian, not of Spanish, cooking. The Spanish name co

 F or those unfamiliar, emotional intelligence is a self-governing initiative to make healthy assessments about how our minds influence quality   behaviour . Such assessments help us to better understand our minds and reduce emotions harmful, yet natural effect on our thoughts and   behaviour . Like the sensory systems, the emotional coping mechanisms you have are not good or bad mostly they just need retuning or at least mine does. Over the next 4 weeks, I'll be looking into each section of Emotional Intelligence and sharing what I find with you. Self-Awareness: The core of Emotional Intelligence is self-awareness. Self-awareness is comprised of three competencies; emotional self-awareness, where you are able to read and understand your emotions as well as recognise their impact on work performance and relationships; accurate self-assessment, where you are able to give a realistic evaluation of your strengths and limitations; self-confidence, where you have a positive and strong s

  You Have Eight Sensory Systems DESCRIPTION OF THE EIGHT SENSORY SYSTEMS The five basic sensory systems:            1. Visual            2. Auditory            3. Olfactory (smell) System            4. Gustatory (taste) System            5. Tactile System The first five we are all familiar with but it seems since my youth they have added three more:            6. Vestibular (sense of head movement in space) System            7. Proprioceptive (sensations from muscles and joints of body) System            8. Interoception  (internal sensations like hunger & thirst) Over the next four weeks, I will be looking at ways to increase and/or strengthen these eight systems in your daily life. Yes it sounds hedonistic but I think I, no, I know that I have let some of these weaken as my physical health has declined and I want to strengthen those that I can.