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Tired but Happy

12/01/2010 By

Yes, I know we’ve moved on to a new topic this week, but if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to re-visit some of the ideas about gratitude that we talked about earlier. The reason is that over the Thanksgiving holiday I was given an excellent opportunity to practice what I was preaching with regard to the whole glass half empty or full question. And—especially because there’s been so much negative press lately about the violence in Mexico—I think this story is worth sharing.

As I mentioned in our post about the Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Soup, my daughter and I have a tradition of spending the holiday in Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco), Mexico, camped on the beach with friends. This year, I was a little hesitant because of everything I’d heard, but decided that as long as we traveled during daylight hours, and on a day when a lot of Americans would also be making the trip, it would be okay.

So we headed out, only to have a blowout in the middle of nowhere (but still in the US), about two hours into our trip. That delayed us for a couple of hours while we waited for AAA, but they finally arrived and got us back on our way. [Read more...]

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Theresa’s Fabulous Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Soup Recipe

11/25/2010 By

Ever since my daughter was tiny, we have spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Puerto Penasco aka Rocky Point, Mexico, usually camped on the beach with my friend Theresa and her family. We have Thanksgiving dinner with them and it is good (really good, since the only thing that is expected of me is a salad!) But what all of us look forward to at least as much as the big dinner, is the next day when Theresa will make her famous turkey soup with the leftovers. I had to beg (a little), but here’s the recipe… [Read more...]

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Make a Beautiful “Foiled Again” Journal

11/20/2010 By

All right, I don’t know about you, but I have a problem with all those elegant journals out there. They’re beautiful, for sure—too beautiful. When I crack one open and that pristine page is staring me in the face, I’m immediately intimidated—paralyzed by the notion that whatever I scribble in there should be equally elegant and eloquent. And, of course, that’s not really what journal writing is all about—at least not in all cases. Sometimes journaling just needs to be stream-of-consciousness writing, or as we suggested in our post on gratitude journals, an on-going record of the good things in your life. And when you’re doing something like that on a daily basis, often right before bed when you’re already worn out, the last thing you need to be worrying about is perfect penmanship!

A note before we go any further: If you do not share my “problem” with fancy journals, I should mention that we have some beautiful ones for sale here at CRIZMAC. (I guess with a salesperson like me, it should surprise no one to know that our retail sales aren’t quite what we’d like them to be…)

Anyway, I took the advice of a great writing teacher, Natalie Goldberg, and started buying plain, old cheap spiral notebooks to use as journals. If you buy in bulk at the back-to-school sales, you can really get a ganga deal (I’ve paid as little as 10 cents each!)

And yet…and yet…it wouldn’t hurt if they were just a little more aesthetically pleasing. (I have to admit, they really weren’t very inspirational.)  So I was thrilled when I came across this idea for making a decorated foil journal cover. It’s easy, fun, and the results are nearly always spectacular. Here’s how to do it: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Create (Art/Craft Projects) Tagged With: , , , , ,

Good Old Midwestern Strawberry Jell-O Salad Recipe

11/19/2010 By

Good old Jell-O! In all its variations and incarnations, the Jell-o salad is a staple at potlucks, church picnics, and family gatherings all over the Midwest. Here’s the recipe for the one I took to Karla’s for that Thanksgiving feast I wrote about earlier this week. I think (hope!) that my tastes have broadened and expanded somewhat over the years, but I still think this recipe is pretty darned good! Hope you agree… [Read more...]

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Keep a Gratitude Journal

11/18/2010 By

You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

***

Gratitude is an affirmation of all the goodness in your life and is very restorative, particularly during times of stress. Giving thanks at Thanksgiving is wonderful, but it isn’t enough. According to a study by Martin E.P. Seligman and his colleagues, volunteers who recorded three things daily that they were grateful for felt happier for a full six months after the study ended.

With this in mind, I invite you to consider keeping a Gratitude Journal. It doesn’t take much time or cost a lot, and yet the benefits to your happiness and general outlook on life are enormous. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Enrich (Activities/Exercises) Tagged With: , , , , ,

Plains Indian-Style Fry Bread Recipe

11/17/2010 By

Here in the Southwest, where I live now, fry bread is usually made in large rounds and served with honey instead of sugar (or as the base for a Navajo taco). But this is the way Karla made the fry bread that I wrote about in the Thanksgiving post. As near as I can tell, the basic recipe is about the same in all cases, it’s just a question of size, shape and embellishment! [Read more...]

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The Real, True Story of Thanksgiving (Part II)

11/16/2010 By

Continued from Part I

From Missouri Mule to Wasicu

First, a little back story:

I left my hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the day after I graduated from high school, and headed west, lured by the mountains and the prospect of lots of skiing. I eventually landed in Bozeman, Montana, where I got a job working nights (had to have the days free for skiing, of course) at the local Big Boy restaurant.

Karla Gregory

There I met Karla Gregory, an Assiniboine Indian, who had grown up on the Rocky Boy’s reservation in northern Montana. She was exotic and beautiful; I was always a little in awe of her. And she spoke with such an interesting accent (especially to someone who said “y’all”). Years later, when I saw the movie, Smoke Signals, the stab of recognition went right to the core. Karla could have played the Suzie Song character—or she could have been modeled after her. Anyway, although we came from very different cultures, Karla and I became instant friends and were roommates for several years thereafter. [Read more...]

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The Real, True Story of Thanksgiving (Part I)

11/15/2010 By

When we created the editorial calendar for this blog (Didn’t think we had one? Well, we do…sort of…), I recorded very neatly that this week our focus would be on the “True Story of Thanksgiving.” In my naiveté (or ignorance, if you prefer), I imagined this would be a simple matter of doing a little research and dispelling a few common myths. What I found, however, is that the subject is a matter of intense debate among scholars.

Now, I haven’t spent a lot of time in the world of higher education, but enough to know that when the academics really get going, it’s best not to enter the fray unless you’ve got a whole pack of initials after your name and a lot of scholarship under your belt (not to mention a strong interest in arguing ad infinitum about things like the type of buckles the Pilgrims wore on their shoes).

So much for writing the “True Story of Thanksgiving.” As always, there can be many “truths,” depending on a person’s background and point of view. Or, as Oscar Wilde so eloquently put it, “the truth is rarely pure and never simple.” However, with regard to that first Thanksgiving, there are a few (very few!) things that appear to be undisputed, and here they are: [Read more...]

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