I think I’m a pretty fair person….

Whether I’m giving the M&M’s bites of fruit, a handful of Cheerios, or morsels of the chicken that they are so fond of, they sit patiently, waiting their turn, knowing that I will feed one a bite, then the other.  Some dogs try and snatch food out of your hands or from other dogs, not these two, they trust me, they know their turn is coming. 

I think these little creatures are wonderful, spoiled, maybe, and not made to mind like some dogs are.  They aren’t disciplined, but that’s okay, they’re good little dogs. They don’t need to be disciplined.

I must have been fair with the boys when they were growing up, too.  They were never jealous of each other, and I didn’t make them mind that much either.  Hubby was the bad cop, I was the good cop.  They were good little boys who grew up to be great men, despite the lack of discipline from their Mother.  “Hey, go ahead jump on the bed, it’s okay with me, just quit jumping when your Dad comes home,” I used to say…

I like to think that both my dogs and my guys are wonderful because, in part, I’m fair.  I’m also a sucker for kids and animals, a total pushover, with a marshmallow heart, but let’s not go there…

Healthy dog food…

I take pictures in my garden every day…

Twitter just keeps on growing….

Now farmers are Twittering.  Topics like weather, soil temperature, and farm equipment are the focus of the tweets.  Well, it does make sense, and even though I am tired of hearing the Twitter buzzword every time you turn on the television, I must admit, it is mesmerizing….

Godspeed Farrah Fawcett, you were a brave warrior…

Women of my generation are the same age as Farrah Fawcett.  We admired her beauty as a young woman, copied her hairstyle, envied her lithe and muscular body, watched as she fell in love with Ryan O’Neal, and felt sorry for her when he left her for a younger woman.  We watched her battles with men, including taking a ball bat to one of their cars in a domestic dispute just a few years ago.  At times she seemed to have no substance, we thought she was vain, an aging Hollywood star who wasn’t coping with growing older.

Those of us who thought so, were obviously very, very wrong.  I have followed her cancer battle, knew that this documentary that aired tonight on NBC was a work in process, and was anxious to see it.  Hubby, thought it would be depressing, he didn’t choose to watch with me.

There has been a lot of controversy about this program, some doctor’s arguing that it shouldn’t be shown as it was degrading to cancer patients, others supporting her right to film and show what cancer is really like.  I didn’t find it depressing, it was very sad, but it was so uplifting to see her emerge as this strong  woman, and she was so determined to live, that, for me, it was an inspiration just watching her wage battle against the disease.  She didn’t feel sorry for herself, gone was the little girl image we’ve seen in the past, she faced the beast with dignity and tried her best to survive.

She is much stronger than the men in her life.  I’ve never been a fan of Ryan O’Neal, it’s obvious that he loves her, he’s stood by her during this battle, but he is an obnoxious excuse of a man, who has not been a role model for any of his children.  The honesty of this documentary was brutal, it showed her son, Redmond, in jail for drug possession, being brought to her bed in chains, and her so weak that she barely was aware that he was there.  He preened for the camera, grinning as he was led out in his chains, and you have to wonder if he has learned anything in his sorry excuse of a life of privilege.  He showed no remorse, it was not pleasant to watch.

She will not win this war, it is obvious that the end is very near, but oh, how I admire this  woman.  She had the courage to let the cameras roll when she was nauseated and vomiting, she let us see her with no hair, we heard her cry in pain when they probed her liver with needles, but we also were privileged to see the strength and the power of the woman.  It was a beautiful thing to behold, the grace with which she faced her disease.  What riveting television it was.

Godspeed, Farrah, the pain will be over soon…

If you missed this and are interested in future airings, here is a schedule:

OXYGEN - Sat, May 16 - 4:00 PM
OXYGEN - Sun, May 17 - 1:00 PM
BRAVO - Mon, May 18 - 11:00 PM
BRAVO - Tue, May 19 - 1:00 AM

Talking Dogs, I love my mama….

Carlene sent me this video this afternoon, these dogs are absolutely precious, and I’m certain, without a doubt that the M&M’s tell me they love me all the time, too.  Well, they do!  I just don’t have it on video….yet!

And did you also know that I heard thru the family grapevine that my oldest son, John, has taken to calling me the crazy cat lady, but with dogs.  Hmmmmm, I wonder why? 

It’s a thought…

Ever consider what pets must think of us?  I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow.  They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!  ~Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist

Things are blooming…

I took some time yesterday, took pictures of my fleurs and built a new slide show.  I’m surprised at the growth of everything so early.  Every time I step out my door onto my patio, it’s like wow!  I thought all the rain would just make them rot in the ground, apparently not….

I know I have to enjoy this now, the dog days of summer will be here soon and despite my daily watering, it won’t be quite as lush as it is in this merry month of May.

Carpe Diem….

Another one of those simple things I talk about so often…

We’ve had nothing but rain this spring in Heavensville. The ground is saturated, the plants are saturated, in other words it’s a muddy mess!

The yard is so muddy the M&M’s have to have their paws wiped every time they traipse thru the grass in search of the perfect spot to potty.

And yours truly has had a helluva time.  Sometimes I need to go in the yard.  My windowbox is the perfect example.  It’s attached to the back of the patio fence, and it’s so muddy behind the patio where I have to walk to access it that I get my shoes filthy. The fleurs needed deadheading,  so I asked hubby to snip for me since he always wears his rubber clogs.  Well snip he did, first cut and he whacked off my biggest dahlia blossom.  I swear that man, who normally has a lot of finesse, is like a bull in a china shop when it comes to fleurs.

I had to do something, I was tired of washing my tennies and didn’t want to resort to puting plastic grocery sacks over my feet like I did last week to avoid the mud, and I was talking about these garden clogs this weekend.  The family thought they wouldn’t work for me, since my prosthetic feet are stationary and the clogs are cushy on the bottoms, but low and behold they work just great!  I tried on a pair in the store, and walked easily in them. So now I have not one, but two pairs of these rubber lovelies uglies, yellow and orange.

It’s such a joy to be able to put them on and muck around in the yard, you have no idea, girlfriends…. Love, love, love those simple things…

This is seriously freaking me out…

We all get these emails, you know the ones, warning us to be careful in parking lots,  or not to eat certain foods, all kinds of plausible sounding things that we read and quickly forget.

But a few weeks ago I received an email telling me how we should always wash soda can tops before we drink, because soda is stored in warehouses and might have mouse droppings, chemicals, etc. on the tops of the cans.

That one hit home.  Since I’m hopelessly addicted to Diet Cherry Coke and have been for years, I drink too many cans daily and I never wash the tops.  Or at least I didn’t until that email.  But think about it, no telling what germs are lurking on the soda cans that we pop the tops on and put to our lips.

Makes me shudder at the thought!  This soda guzzler now washes or at the very least wipes before she swigs.  Think about it…

~ jan

I’ve had no time to blog….

No updates on eating right, no tweeting, except what I eat, no new dishes posted on jancancook, but life is back to normal now, family is gone, and I’ll be back soon yak-a-doodle-dooing…

Just wanted you all to know that I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth….

This is what you eat when you fall off the Weight Watcher’s Bandwagon…..

It was a controlled cheat, though, I planned for this.  The kids asked me what I wanted for dessert today, and this is was it!  It’s strawberry shortcake like  Mammy Smith (great-grandma) made when I was a little girl.  I always called it pie stacked on top of pie.  It consists of layers of homemade piecrust, with juicy, sugar Splenda sweetened berries and whipped cream.  And yes, it was as good as it looks!  Lindsay made the piecrust this morning, and it was just awesome, really flaky and buttery, it was so yummy!  We ate on the patio, it was a sunny 68 degree day in Heavensville, the weather was just gawjus. finally!

I had a great Mother’s Day, I hope you all did as well.  And I hope that your dessert, whatever it was, was as good as this was! 

And since I’ve been dieting for the past month now, the taste was even better, I’m sure…

Happy Mother’s Day….