just do it

I finished my fourth 60-day Bikram yoga challenge today.

the sucky parts:

- it's inconvenient - you have to base your whole day around getting to the studio and taking the class, which is 90 minutes long.  Working out alleviates stress, but HAVING to get to the studio creates it

- my lower back and neck hurt, and it's been a bad hair day for two months straight

- it's really, really hard

- I love the practice, but do not like the negative reinforcement they preach

the great parts:

- Winter is super tough here, so being in the hot room every day is great

- my head is clear

- my body is strong

- it's really, really hard

- the discipline to stop whatever you are doing that day and go to a yoga class, because you've committed to doing it, is great 

- doing it the hard way, no matter how much I hate it that day

- I am proud of myself

sno-bakes

my cookies firming up outside in the snow on the deck

RAW NO BAKE COOKIES

Please gently warm together:

1 cup raw nut butter of choice OR natural peanut butter

¾ cup honey

½ cup coconut butter/oil

then mix with:

2 teaspoons vanilla

2¼ cups oatmeal

6 Tablespoons cacao powder or coca powder

If mixture is too thin, add some ground flax.  Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment paper and chill until firm 

sky study #123

February 24, 2015

you should try them

these scene of the slide

I glided my truck into a snowbank to avoid sliding straight into the M113 Tuesday morning on my way into town.  It was cold and the roads were icy. I am that person you pass on the road going under the limit, so it wasn't my speed - the roads were just so slick.  FOUR good Samaritans, all men, stopped to help dig me out within minutes of my encounter with the snowbank: 

- A man in a minivan with a woman in the passenger seat who had a shaved head

- A man wearing sweatpants who was on his way to see a house he was buying

- a younger man in a huge truck with a dog in the passenger seat

- and a Vietnam veteran (said so on his hat), skinny, who looked like a character actor in a baseball hat, scraggly beard and sunglasses.  He was the best - he ultimately got the truck out and had a cigarette dangling from his lip the whole time

They spent about 20 minutes of their time digging out my truck with shovels they produced from their trunks, arguing over whether should be in low 4WD or high, pushing the vehicle, opening all the doors and standing inside the car trying to rock it out, and all of them taking turns at the wheel, gunning the engine, spinning the tires and making even deeper ruts in the snow in attempts to "rock her out"

In the end, they did get me out.  For living in a rural and somewhat isolated place, I have never had better neighbors in my whole life, anywhere I've ever lived.  I hugged all of them and was astounded and grateful at the charity of total strangers to stop, in freezing weather in the middle of nowhere, to help me.

a tisket, a tasket

Mabel sleeping in the basket

this is happening

a trail of feathers...

feathers everywhere, leading to...

feather comforter, or fun dog chew toy?  Both!

wheycicles

Frozen 5 gallon whey popsicles headed for some happy pigs!

Princess Valentine

micro-fashion Valentine spirit: glitter stickers applied to face - at last Saturday's farmer's market

mid-Winter DTL

Cozy applying a fine double turkey leg to my lap the other evening

Happy Valentine's Day I LOVE YOU

My brothers and sisters, hear what I say
I'm gonna' love you, to my dying day

When I tell you that I love you, well, at least I tried

I want you to believe me, this ain't no lie

- Grand Funk Railroad

stacked 5 deep

cheese cave clean out this week

cat hair on the cookbooks

boss mac

Big pan of whole wheat mac & cheese with leftover shredded cheddar from the market

Princess power x4

micro-fashion quad from last Saturday's farmer's market - all sisters, and the one on the left was dancing and pirouetting leading the others down the hallways of the market.  Note tutus on second and third models, and kickass boots on the right

Go Stags Go!

I went to a boys basketball game this past week at Kingsley High - it was really fun

the opponents

check out the Kingsley coach's suit - team colors - also Halloween colors

Leland wins

sleeping in your bed

Mabel's new-found confidence: OCCUPY DOG BED.

fresh cuts

My brother Steve is a great metalsmith (and maker of the Boss Moue cheese sign) Here is his latest hand-crafted knife, a "German chef's knife, with brown canvas Micarta handle"

the snow in Maine

Looking out the back door of John & Mary's house in Maine - to give you perspective, the bottom of the frame is the actual doorstep leading to the back porch, which is up a small flight of steps, and yes, that is a car.  Chicken & hog house in the background - this is the place where I fell in love with small farming XOXOXO

Rudy in a box

chocolate Pete

Power Detroit pal Pete from Pete's Chocolate Company helped me out in the cheese room last week

Pete cuttin' the cheese like a Boss

taking care of cheese-ness

Boss Mouse apprentice, the smart and beautiful Caitlin, who brushes, turns and tends the wheels of cheese in the cave with lots of love every week.

vorresti un biscotto?

lemon-ricotta biscotti

sky study #122

The glorious vista at my favorite intersection, the M113 & Summit City Road, Kingsley, MI