Inspired by a dead woman's cream puffs

I've wanted to make cream puffs since eating one at a funeral a few weeks ago. They were light and airy and sinfully good and the signature baked good of the 94 year old Italian woman that had died. I didn't use her recipe, but found one in a cookbook and since I had Thursday off for Thanksgiving and had time to finally make them, I dove in. (Cathy did the turkey and trimmings).

It was fun to bake the pies and make the cream puffs. It fits into the 'living in the moment' zen approach to life that I'm attempting to live each day. It's less about the eating of and much more about the making of...I like the process. This quote says it best...

“Whatever the tasks,

do them slowly with ease,

in mindfulness,

so not do any tasks with the goal

of getting them over with.

Resolve to each job in a relaxed way,

with all your attention.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Master

Thanksgiving

A friend sent me this Emerson quote for Thanksgiving and I think he captures what I am thankful for very well. Certainly health, food, shelter, morning light and love top the list.

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Yesterday I heard many stories about how the day would be spent as we went around the room and shared our plans. Some had traditions stretching back 40 years while others were reaching for new ways of spending this gift of a day off. For me personally, it's a family day and I'm most happy when surrounded by them. What are you thankful for today?

Wicked!

I couldn't have loved a musical anymore than I loved this one. It was fantastic. Can't wait for it to return to the Orpheum so I can see it again. I fell in love with the Wicked Witch - she is misunderstood you know.

Got my flu shot today!

Did you know that every year in the United States, on average: 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications; and about 36,000 people die from flu?

A couple of years ago I had the flu and it was the sickest I have ever been. Flu viruses spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose. Most healthy adults may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 5 days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.

Sunday morning coming down....

Well I woke up Sunday morning,
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert.

Not really...no beer for breakfast, just coffee laced with soy milk and a little ovalteen and a candy cane oreo Christmas cookie from Trader Joe's that I bought yesterday.

It's white outside this morning - just a light coating, but enough to make the sidewalks, rooftops and roads look, from the window at least, as if someone came along in the night with white paint and changed the grey to a bright white. I like it. My neighbors have placed two over-sized bird feeders between our houses and the pine tree outside my dining room window is covered with birds. They must be happy having found their winter home and a place to fill their tiny tummies.

I'm starting to receive gift catalogs for Christmas in the mail and inside the Collections Etc. found this little gem. Which one of you is going to receive the cow vacuum cleaner cover for Christmas this year? It's a surprise!

Check it out... The description says "it sets a whimsical mooood". I would agree. :)

The front of the catalog theatens that this is my
last chance to order or they will say goodbye due
to growing postage costs. Let's hope it's not an
empty threat.

Do you see any buds on my Christmas cactus? My 88 year old (blind) friend, Lillian, who gave it to me asks about it all the time and I'm hoping that this is the year that it finally decideds to flower. I've done everything possible to take care of it. It is growing, but I wish it was covered with buds.

Zen and the Art of attending meetings

While attending meetings one should only be attending the meeting. We might ponder...is this meeting a waste of my time? Only if we THINK it is a waste of our time.

Yes, we are active and concerned people so we don't have time to sit idly by in meetings, day-dreaming about the possibility of an Abba reunion, or why Perillos invented the brazen bull, or who I could have an entire conversation with by just using song lyrics. No! We must prepare projects and try to resolve a million difficulties. There is important work to be completed! How will we finish, what has yet to be started, if we are just sitting in a meeting room? Perhaps, by staying in the moment and listening a truth will be revealed that teaches us something important.

Listening! Don’t we all want to be heard and understood? When was the last time you practiced active listening? What happened to the art of listening? Really listening to the person talking without working through our own mental to do list? A wise old owl that I've worked with for many years taught me to sit back, observe, watch for positions and listen in meetings. I'm known to be more of a talker so this is a real Zen practice for me. To hear where someone is coming from without jumping to conclusions and judging takes a lot of practice. To focus on what a person is saying, instead of preparing our own response and waiting for a moment to jump in is practicing the art of listening. Not condemning the organizer of the meeting to a fiery hell where there is no chocolate cake is practicing the art of attending meetings.

So next time you think a meeting is a waste of time, ask yourself the following questions…

A. Do you really know everything?
B. When was the last time you listened more than talked?
C. If I can understand the intricacies of someone else’s project, maybe I will be enlightened about my own.
D. It is possible I have something to offer to this discussion that I do not yet understand, after all, someone wanted me here.
E. Is thinking and visioning as important as doing?
F. Repeat A.

No more mental vacation, no more soduko under the agenda, no more reading email on my Treo when trapped in a meeting. I am going to live in the moment and be a good meeting attendee.

Nov 6th

I just heard on the news that Santa Claus made his first official visit of the season to the Mall of America today.

When I got back in town tonight and dropped a friend at her house, one of the homes near there was lit up with lights, a plastic santa, a nativity scene and Christmas tree.

A cute, little, love story of a movie "The Holiday" was just on and I watched it again even though I own the dvd and didn't need to watch it tonight.

I'm thinking about putting my Christmas tree up this weekend.

Thanksgiving is still three weeks away. Weird.

I'll take that hour...

It's been a while. Been busy. Been uninspired to write. Been obsessed with CNN. Been sick with a cold. It's November, right? We finally turned the clocks back an hour - which was great, but I'd like to advocate for falling back a day and having a whole 24 hours back. I hate being sick. It's such a waste of time and when you drink Nyquil at 5:00 a.m. the rest of your day is going to suck. I speak of what I know.

So, I lost Sunday...

Saturday was fun though. Picked up my cousin John, met up with Stacy and Tom and spent the day moving my Mom. It really was fun - I like doing stuff like that with family and although I felt physically wiped out at the end (the foreshadowing of my sick day on Sunday) it was a good day and I really like my Mom's new place. She likes it too.

Friday - I drove down to Winona with some co-workers for a meeting and then beer/popcorn at Bubs - pronouced like a female body part. When I got home I had a few options... 1.) go buy candy for the trick-or-treaters, 2.) go out with a friend to the bar, or 3.) Hide. I chose 3 as I was too tired to go out and mingle with the Halloween crowd and didn't want to fight the door, a barking dog and a big bowl of left over candy by myself.

Thursday - Started the day at 6:30 a.m. at Kiwanis and ended the day at the United Way Chili Cook-Off serving beer. In between was back-to-back vendor interviews. Interestly, all but one of the vendors did their presentation over the phone and via the web. When it was time to bring in the vendor who actually came to the building in person we had to clean up a conference table littered with left over lunch and candy wrappers, clear out the stench, comb our hair, sit up straight and resist making obnoxious hand gestures to each other.

Wednesday - 7:00 a.m. meeting to go over a 60 page report and ended the day at the Kiwanis Banquet at Weiderholts where I was crowned "Queen". Okay, there was no crown, just an awards banquet and no, I'm not the queen just the president of the club this year. I was hoping for the British National Anthem - "God Save the Queen" but the accordian player didn't know it. We did sing a really cool wawawa waltzing bear song that with a few lyric changes could be quite lewd.

Tuesday - I didn't have to start work until about 7:30 a.m. - YaHoo! Ended the day at my bookclub meeting in the cities where we discussed Fahrenheit 451. Fantastic discussion, but the beginning of my not getting enough sleep to get through the rest of the week.

Monday - who knows...that's like a lifetime ago.

So how is your week going? Is this a busy time of year or what?