Pumpkin patch and thoughts on life while eating candy corn

Chunk at the pumpkin patch 2015

I type this with a sadness and a little bit of fear wedged somewhere in between. This week has been so much fun. Today, I took Chunk to the pumpkin patch at one of our local farms. I was more excited to take her this year, because she is now old enough to get some enjoyment out of touching the pumpkins. As far as I could tell, she had a blast. She experienced her first hay ride around the farm and got the chance to play with some pumpkins. I didn't brave the corn maze with her, for fear that we'd get lost. During the hay ride, she squealed with delight as the tractor pulled us around the farm and the wind blew her hair. It was such a joyous moment to see. This week has been full of those wonderful moments whether its with her or my husband and I have been happy just to have witnessed them. The sadness and fear that fall within these moments are a causation of a future surgery I must undergo this coming Thursday. For those readers that don't know, I was born with a serious heart disease and though its been under control with medication for sometime now, doctors want a defibrillator implanted. Yes, I know that this is a routine procedure, however, there is always that slight chance that your heart doesn't start again once they test the device. Its difficult for me because I know this is what's best,however, what happens to my family if it goes wrong? I dislike very much putting my life in other peoples' hands. My husband will be the first to say that I do this everyday on the road, but I logically can't log it into my brain. I am one of those cruncher type of people that will do anything to keep foreign items or chemicals from my body. I like to believe I'm as close to holistic and natural as mother nature intended. (I'm eating candy corn as I type this. I also can contradict myself, candy corn is full of everything but nature and her intended ingredients.) I know my readers have previously loved my posts because they have been humorous in nature. I do apologize for the lack there of as the last 4 or so posts have been somewhat serious or dull.

touching hay for the first time

If I ask anything now of my readers its a wish, prayer, spell or kind words for a speedy recovery.

Thank you for reading, updates will be available as the date and time draw near.

Chunks first hay ride

Cup of morning tea and apple chips

Our beautiful morning here in Florida. This is my backyard.

Good morning fellow readers. It truly is a magical morning too. The temperature dropped below 74F here in sunny Florida and I'm stoked. That means I'm feeling fantastic and Fall has started. To kick off this glorious cooler than normal morning I have decided to share one of my favorite fall recipe treats with you. They are called Homemade Apple chips.

Fall is the perfect time to make apple chips because its when apple season is at its peak. Plus, the three simple ingredients and instructions are just too easy to not throw together and then be on your way.

I can not take credit for this recipe. All credit goes to: The Italian Dish http://theitaliandishblog.com/imported-20090913150324/2012/1/2/homemade-apple-chips.html

Apple Chips

Materials:
2 cookie sheets
Mandolin
Parchment paper
2 Bowls
Whisk
Tongs
Oven


Ingredients:
1 Apple (I used 5 and made a big batch)
1tablespoon Cinnamon
2 tablespoons Brown sugar

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 225 degrees. Mix with whisk in a bowl your cinnamon and brown sugar. Place parchment paper onto cookie sheets. (I have a mandolin with rubber grips and place it over my second bowl, you could also use a cutting board) Slice apple(s) as thinly as your mandolin will allow. Place 4-5 slices into cinnamon and brown sugar bowl and coat the apple slices. Place onto the cookie sheet and repeat until cookie sheet is full. Repeat until both cookie sheets are full. Place both cookie sheets into the oven for 1 hour. At the one hour mark, take cookie sheets out, flip the slices with tongs and place back into the oven for another hour rotating the sheets, (the one sheet that was on the top rack now place on the bottom rack. Etc.) the apple slices will begin to harden.

I hope you enjoyed this tasty recipe. I loved it so much I just had to share. I can't wait for Chunk to wake from her morning nap and try them.

If you haven't noticed by now, Fall is my favorite season. It is the cool relief that comes for those of us living in the tropical climates that seems to bring out a little more happiness in us all. I seem to do more Fall cleaning too than Spring cleaning. Lol.

Like what I post? Then please leave a comment, share my post or join me for a cup of tea sometime.

Overwhelmed.....but I think finally the good kind.

I'm putting this out there, even though its nothing new for most people with children. OVERWHELMED.

If there is a word that even begins to make overwhelmed seem small, then, that my readers is how I truly feel.

I can't seem to feel any satisfaction even if I have accomplished everything on my "to do" list. I find it so fulfilling yet irritating that I can not and will never be able to catch up on everything I want to do. From me time to taking care and teaching Chunk, to taking care of the house, to earning a little extra income, to spending time with my husband. It all adds up. I want to start making money at home, research takes time. I want our family to eat organically and more raw, research takes time. I want to make a diy (insert occasion or seasonal holiday) project, research takes time. I want to learn to play the piano, speak Spanish, knit, work with leather, work with wood, about the policies of the numerous candidates for future president, read both a fiction and non- fiction book.... again either the research or just the act alone takes time.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, at this point with Chunk now a year and a month old, I thought I'd have it all together and I'd be that SAHM that knew how to accomplish it all. I try. I write out lists everyday, and at the end of everyday, I'm utterly exhausted. The best time saver I did for my self as well as a stress reliever was give up social media, which was FB because I didn't even bother with Twitter or instagram or whatever else is out there. On a very positive note, I'm so grateful to be in this predicament. Yes, I'm complaining that I have too much on my plate and admitting that I don't have it under control, but I chose this. I wanted that Chunk of myself and husband in my life. When Chunk takes even just one second to sit still and lie her head in my lap or randomly come over to me with a book in her hand for me to read, I know that this chaos is what I've always longed for.

So, to the friends I forgot to call back, to my cousin that waits longer than she should for my hand written letters, to my friends that witness me losing my mind over a forgotten wallet after arriving late, to my family that I do speak with on the phone yet sometimes my interruptions sound like turrets, please forgive me; I'm in the middle of being the most absolute awesome human being to my Chunk.

To myself, I forgive you too for not being able to get everything on your list done. Its okay, there is another day. That Chunk was so worth it and playing with her today was truly magical. Didn't you just love that smile?



Chunks worth it. I love her so much.

When did I start thinking like this?

On tonight's episode of The Current Lifestyle, When did I start thinking like this?

This post has taken some thought and time. I really have no idea how to start it. At first I was going to title it, when did I start thinking more like a feminist? However, I'm not sure I completely agree with every single point feminists stand for. So, I guess when did I start thinking like this? Even though it was more broad, it didn't single me out one way or another.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have noticed, as well as my husband, that I have been increasingly argumentative when it comes to any topic on human rights. I may not always be right or win the argument, but the passion behind it is real enough. I then can turn anything into a wrong doing against women.

 For example, after my husband had left for work one morning, I was cleaning up my daughter after her breakfast. While I do this I like to listen to NPR. NPR had reported that two male university students from country A (because I can't remember the country I'll call it that) had traveled to country B and had been sexually assaulted. Country A was now getting involved with country B for mistreating it's two male citizens. (I tried to find this article online so that I could use it as a resource, however, I can't remember the title.) Because this assault had taken place in the middle east, and this had happened right around the time India was taking up a big rape case for the first time in defense of a woman, I was pissed, for lack of a better word. Country A and country B, I'm glad they got involved to help their citizens. No one, male or female deserves to be sexually assaulted. However, knowing the history of those two countries, I was angered by the thought that had those students been female, those countries might have killed them, beat them, or it might have gone unreported out of fear. (Also assuming the females were permitted to go to school in the first place)


So, later on that evening when my husband returned home, and we were lying in bed, he happilly showed me a picture on FB. Now, I can laugh at jokes, but this day I wasn't laughing.

This was the FB post

I immediately became defensive and responded, well, our friend so and so is a vegetarian and he doesn't have a vagina. I think he's pretty manly. Then I kept going with, why does the worst insult to a guy have to be something that is feminine? Why can't you just call him an ass? Everyone has one, male or female. My husband responded with, because "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, unless he's a vegetarian then you can get there through his ass??? Doesn't sound right." Now, I'm not trying to make you as the reader hate my husband, he has a point, no, it's not as funny, but it still bothered me.
I started to tell him about how this morning news story bothered me. That's when he said, "what or where has this all come from?" I angerly responded what the hell do you mean? It's just not right, and even though it's far away, similar things happen like that here in the states too. Women get paid less then men in the work force, female sports aren't broadcast anywhere near to the extent of male sports, much less are the athletes paid like them, look at the difference in medical care, our government has to decide if to "make" companies cover birth control, abortion (enough said), maternity leave in this country vs lets say Canada, female parts are either made to be dirty or slutty in our society, and I'm sick of hearing the phrase, "you hit like a girl...or you do such and such like a girl!" Why do we do that to our females? Then we also on the same token wonder why girls have self esteem issues.

The argument heated up further when my husband concluded that the source of all of this anger was from an ad I had also seen on FB from the company, Always. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs

(Click the link above to view) I thought it was a powerful ad and tastefully done.We eventually were able to get our points across and we had to agree to disagree on some issues.

Now some of you would point out that I'm a feminist. The definition of feminist is advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. Yes, by the definition, I could be labeled as such, however, I'm now a stay at home mom and I'm not out their physically advocating for equal rights. I also like my job at home. I clean and cook and believe it or not, I like it! I depend on my husbands income to survive. When I was working as a teacher and brought home a paycheck, that made my claims stronger, however, we as a family chose for me to stay home with our daughter. Also, I believe there needs to be a healthy balance advocating for equal rights. Most feminists today, are being shamed for what critics are saying, that feminists want special treatment. I don't believe that true feminists want special treatment. 

So, back to my real question, when did I start thinking like this? Was it when I had my daughter? Was it when I turned 30, or did I finally grow up? Maybe a combination of all including thinking for myself. Maybe my husband was right, the Always ad might have sparked a little flame in me. Let's say that is so, then I thank you Always. Because now, I ask the questions. I ask WHY. This country needs to seriously take a look at it's people. We are all people. From the racism issues to the equality for GLBT community, to disability equal rights to gender rights, our country needs to take a step back. We need to fix our county on the inside before going off and changing other countries. Just like a doctor tells you, you can't help others with out helping yourself first. How are you going to take care of someone when you can not take care of yourself? (In no way is this insensitive to those men and women serving this country. I have family in the military too. Without them, I couldn't even bitch about this topic without my some sort of punishment. Thank you for fighting for my first Amendment rights among other freedoms.)

I believe our country can be better than it is today. I want that for my daughter. I know this post is nothing like my previous posts, however, I needed to get that out. Feel free to comment and agree or disagree. I'm not bothered. I can handle it.

Want to discuss another topic that pushes my buttons? Ask me about sexual abuse.
 

 Please leave a comment. Make sure it's tasteful though, because otherwise, I wont read it.




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