Ferret

This is a picture of one of our ferrets, Valentine, just as she was waking up from a nap.  I'll try to get a new photo of her cage mate, Riley, when he is feeling less rambunctious. 

Spring in Courtdale

These are just pictures of pretty things in my yard.

Experiment: Cheesemaking!

My mom got instructions to make homemade mozzarella cheese.  She tested the recipe out, then I came over to make my own cheese.  Fun Stuff!

1 gallon of milk heating after citric acid and rennet were added.

Slowly waiting for curds to happen.

Curds and whey!

Separating the curds from they whey.

Big old lump of curds.

Stretching the cheese after salt's been added.

Still stretching.

Mozzarella balls cooling in ice water.

At the end, after the cheese balls were done cooling, I packed them up in zip-lock bags with a touch of olive oil and a few herbs (oregano, basil, garlic salt).

Final result?  YUMMY!

I love this!

Sometimes one just needs to remember...

I found myself getting very aggravated today.  The healing from my appendectomy seemed like it was taking forever.  I was tired of hurting, oozing, feeling holes and scabs.  I was impatient with the whole process and actually hating my body for all the hell it's been putting me through.

And then... I realized something.  It's no wonder things are going wonky with my healing process.  All this hate and aggravation was turning itself into the infection.  I had a bad attitude toward my body and thus my body was giving me all the ick it could.

So I turned around and decided to do one happy thing.  It could have been anything.  Creating something.  Making myself laugh.  Being silly.  What I did was turn up the mp3 player and DANCE.  OK, probably not the wisest thing to do when the body is healing... but 5 minutes of dancing made my soul feel better and, in turn, the pain went away for a few hours.  (Granted I oozed a lot in that time, but better out than in, right?)

Healing is not a passive thing... it's an active state of mind.  It's willfully putting the body back together into its correct or better configuration.  It's an act of Love.  It's saying that I love myself so much that my mindset needs to bring my body back into alignment.  It's actively acknowledging and acting upon all those things that need to bring about wellness-- whether it means taking it easy, eating foods that promote healing, listening to doctor's orders, and sometimes getting up and dancing to connect with the universal life force again.

Happiness

LOL.. true!

delay

OK.. so finishing Mr Sloth has been delayed a little.  On 1/12, I had to go in for an emergency appendectomy. I'm home and recovering now, but still a bit sore and slow from the percocets.  The challenge now is trying to remember that the hurting now is going toward healing... that all this aggravation will be done in days.  I'm not patient sometimes.  :P

So instead I leave you with this that makes me squee:  Bush covering "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones: