THE Refrigerator

It may surprise you as it often does to me, that not everyone thinks of the Refrigerator as a area to clean regularly in the kitchen. I know it is very surprising how some people just stuff it full then wonder why it sinks or why they can't find anything.....

I think to clean your refrigerator is THE most important chore of them ALL! And that is saying something in my own personal long list of Kitchen coverage I have shared this month in this blog..... I couldn't imagine not being able to see all my options in foods and what needs to be cooked up first. I have a rotation in frozen meats thawing slowly out till ready to cook in a natural defrosting way. I have a certain place for everything so when I think to myself "I need eggs.." I know where to go instantly like a gracefully dance when I usually am still waking up for the day.
It is THE most important place to keep clean because it hold ALL your perishables, if any bacteria or germs get into your food while laying in the dirty frig for days then often it will explain why you get sick later on. I find the American culture to be over run with bottles of sauces and dressings, condiments may have chemicals to hold their unnatural colors forever but they DO go BAD after a couple of years. I find it best if I am not using that bottle of sauce or syrup for a few months to simply toss it until needed again which is actually never now. People who throw stuff in these place need to plan ahead for a bit of natural defrosting, meat thaws out into a bowl or dish can save your veggie from contamination of blood drips into the drawer below. MOLD is the biggest enemy for food in a refrigerator. People think it's safe in there from the heat but then that long lost or forgotten lemon is now a green powder puff on your shelf of items YIKES!
(Also NO citrus in the frig please, it has a natural protection to keep the fruit inside safe and ripens naturally on the counter. In fact putting citrus in the cool temps will ruin it faster and take away those good sugars. perhaps that is for another helpful post about storing foods)
So for best tip I can give on your refrigerator is use ALL foods up inside then wipe it out before you go buy more foods. NO dirt, NO green dust or mold on ANYTHING in your frig! 

To DEEP clean; 
Step 1. Empty the whole refrigerator from top to bottom. Take out everything in the side door and stack shelving aside with storage drawers out.

Step 2. Wash everything in soapy hot water, all the shelving and produce drawers set aside on clean towels to dry. Then use wet wash rags with some baking soda on tough spots in the frig from top to bottom. At the end of washing, wiping and scrubbing the inside quickly I have a big dry towel to polish up the inside all the way to the floor to dry everything up. I set a small open bowl of baking soda as a deodorizer inside to help with any leftover food smells.

Step 3. I clean every bottle of spices, sauces or dressing. I make sure the butter sticks get set back inside right away and the refrigerator doors are scrubbed down from inside out.

Step 4. I put everything back inside shelving, drawers and remaining foods. This is a fast pace moving cleaning project as I don't unplug the power so the leftover foods need to stay chilled. Once everything is back in place the wide open clean empty look inspires me to go grocery shopping once again!

Step 5. A clean kitchen is nice and very much needed BUT a clean refrigerator is FAR more important to your good health and anyone else who will eat from it! Be Smart and Be Strong once a week in doing these steps will protect everything you cook and you will also be proud that nothing is ever lost nor becoming a science project for disease control!

Stove Top Scrubbing

   Whenever my stove top gets messy I wipe it clear as I cook, yet when things boil over or spill into the burners such messes are much bigger then a walk by wipe up movement.
Also currently the activity in my kitchen has double with more of our roommate cooking as well. I have decided for this spring cleaning to when I will get my stove/oven fresh new look. Usually I do this kind of project in the winter around every new year, to keep these big cleaning jobs for when I am kept indoors yet since this is a more activity place the kitchen, I will wait to change things around in the spring this time....
Whenever I clean the stove I use "pet friendly" ways, for I HATE with a deep angry passion such things as "Oven Cleaner" the fact that we even can buy it in stores overwhelms me and I pray to God no one who is or could be pregnant uses that stuff! NOT to mention a healthy normal person breath in those fumes and finds the head ache just a warning sign for the cancer to come! I will preach until I am blue in the face about the dangers of oven cleaner! 
NOT in my home as long as I live!
Cleaning the stove is such a detailed chore, I will set aside an afternoon for it will take me at least 2 hours to get the stove/oven looking brand new again. (This chore is once or twice a year because of the depth it takes)

TO CLEAN the stove and oven SAFELY;

Step 1. I get a tub of hot soapy water ready a few rags and begin to wipe down from stove top fans, blades and replace the filter. I will use a scrubber pad on the inside where heavy grease falls off. The new light bulb and filter makes the cooking space bright and smoke free!

Step 2. I then use the warm damp rag to wipe down all the knobs and buttons. This brings all the dirt down to the center of the four burners.

Step 3. I open the oven door take out the racks and sprinkle over baking soda powder then spray over that vinegar to let it sizzle and bubble for a while with the door closed again.

Step 4. I toss the old burner catchers away and wipe each burner off really good in the warm wet cloth setting aside on a clean towel.

Step 5. I sprinkle baking soda all over the stove top and under layer where the burners go. Then spray over it vinegar and let it set.

Step 6. I will then get a new warm wet cloth and wipe everything down eve the front of the oven door and bottom drawer front where people scrape their shoes on.

Step 7. Then after the bubbling cleaner sits on the lower layer under the stove top I change to paper towels in order to wipe up and out all burnt particles straight to the trash can. I use paper towels for the inside of the oven as well. ALL dirty, black and gross paper towels land straight into my trash can.

Step 8. I use the vacuum to get any crumbs on the floor of the oven in the back corners I can not reach with a paper towel.

Step 9. I put all the clean racks back in oven and setup the new drip catching burner plates on my brand new looking stove and oven!

Step 10. I step back in awe of my mad skills in cleaning and not once did I choke or puke over unwanted chemicals to "De-grease" my most important cooking station!

Save yourself from harm and never ever use oven cleaner, PLEASE I beg you never use that stuff! I have other very safe and good alternatives like; lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda or salt. These will do the job nicely if ya wanted things to smell REALLY good for it IS in the kitchen simply cut an open fresh onion to deodorizer and disinfect everything too!
Keep it safe! Keep it clean!

The most important things...

It is important for me to better the lives around me, Yesterday I turned 34 and spent the day with my mother. It was wonderful, a bit of work to get myself outta bed early enough to hang out with her. I like seeing her so happy to go to town and get dressed up. Our shower times are always a couple of hours I make sure she gets a pedicure and manicures, that I help her shave as much as possible. While a little make up goes a long ways in her being ready to be out in the world. I've been trying to get her focused on good eating habits and hoping she will notice the weight changes and easier movement on her paralyzed leg. This could take some redirecting, and long term goals for her attention. She treated me to lunch for my birthday and we spent the afternoon shopping in a craft store. My husband Tony came along for support and knowing it was the only time he could see me before his long late night class. "This is YOUR birthday, not a day to clean your mom's house or cook for her." He reminded me while we got coffee drinks for the hour drive ahead, I explained that this is the only day it will work out this month to go see my mom and everything will be just fine doing whatever she would like. He shrugged feeling a bit helpless to not call the shots over what kind of day he thinks I should have. It was good for me to have him there reminding me not to work so hard like usual. I was thrilled to see my teenaged brothers driving on their own now and even cooking up breakfast eggs by themselves! True, by the end of the day I was wiped out, even my dogs slept very deeply after playing in the snow at Teresa's for that time I could be with my mom. It was a good day to be out with my mom nicer weather and to have those moments of laughing, talking and sharing.....I wanted to help her get around and to go out to eat like we've done in the last few birthdays of mine. I never have my own agenda to go someplace, just wanting to hang out with her for as long as she wants, seeing her happy is perfect enough and it is what I find to be important all in all. My husband was so sweet to stay along side me all day even if he got frustrated thinking I should be more "spoiled" in my Bday... I explained to him that I was NOT feeling neglected at all. I liked taking my mom where ever she wants and trying to help her stay within budget while shopping. We all were together,  getting some things done and help my mom setup her scrape booking hobby for her time being home. It was such a fast pace good birthday for me, even Later on when Tone came home from class we had ice cream while it snowed outside late into the midnight hours I smiled as he hugged me saying he wished I didn't have to work so hard on my birthday I replied "Sometimes working hard through out the day makes relaxing at night all the more better. It is the time we spend with those we love that is the most important things in reaching another birthday"

My Sweet Dogs

  This has been such a lazy extremely cold winter, that my 3 dogs love to nap and cuddle ALL day long.
I finally found a frame for my Minnie's portrait. 
On my book shelf I have the memory of Savannah. Next to my Oscar when he was a puppy in his own stylish dog coat. Then as a gift from the first owner of Sidda, my friend Melissa gave me the picture of Sweet Sidda when she was just a pup! So now my heart glows everyday as I pass by these pics!
I LOVE my dogs more then anything in the whole world! I plan my days around making sure they are never neglected, I clean out their beds every week and always watch over them. At night we all curl up side by side in bed.
Sidda is a 7 pound Priness, I carry her almost everywhere or tuck her up on the edge of the couch. She sleeps on my same pillow in bed and greets in the morning with snorts, groans and licks on my nose. I can't help but kiss her so much!
Oscar still pouts and begs for attention, he is easily annoyed then goes off to nap in the dark guest room when he has had enough of the other pets in the home. How different his life is now not being in my full attention. I really believe it is good for him to learn to share, He adores Sidda, protects her at the dog park and lays on the floor to roll and play with her on the same level.
Minnie is bigger then Oscar by 15 pounds, when she first came to live with us last year she didn't even notice I had 2 other dogs, I think she was so overwhelmed in a new place and her panic never allowed her to focus on others. She is such a different dog now, still bulldozing but aware now of the other 2 dogs. Every so often Oscar and Minnie will have a run in either over a toy or food. I have a system in feeding them separate, and most importantly I do not mind huging and loving on each of them every night. Each morning they get a time to sit in my lap and I chat with them. Having these 3 dogs and 2 cats in my home makes me both very happy and busy. Minnie will lean into my chest and chin staying there awhile in order to calm down. Oscar will lay over my lap and Sidda will lay on my shoulder.....sometimes when they all do this at once my husband will laugh and say "Mommy is their FAVORITE person in the whole world!" I like being such a "Mommy" to all the creatures in the world but I never would have thought I would have 3 dogs at once.....funny how life happens, how the creatures will find us! How magical these moments spent all together are! My heart is so grateful and proud to have such sweet dogs!

The Microwave Messes

It's very true that I like to keep my kitchen appliances cleaned, for when you use them dirty the clean foods you are cooking could get dirty too.
We've just had a microwave in the home for a month now and I am still not use to cleaning it so the other day when I opened the door to find splattered messes everywhere I squealed!
My husband look over his shoulder commenting on my reaction, "I know I thought you would have cleaned it out by now..." I frowned as I went on task to cleaning it replying "I'm always forgetting it's here when I clean the kitchen TELL ME next time you see such a mess Good grief!"
One of my favorite things is how easy a microwave is to clean, for it's very important to stay clean with the door close germs will reproduce offspring until there is a whole family reunion of bad bacterias gathering! YIKES!

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR MICROWAVE;

Step 1. First I will get a coffee cup or mug and pour in lemon juice OR vinegar if i do not have lemon juice.  THIS is amazing stuff lemon juice smells better then vinegar but I use whichever I have on hand. In the coffee cup I place in the center of the microwave for a minuet or 2 depending on the size of the sticky cooked on messes......This heat up the liquid giving the insides a "Spa" like steaming and loosening all food particles.

Step 2. Take a dry cloth and wipe out from top to bottom the microwave after everything was steamed over really good.
Then use a wet cloth to wipe it all out one last time for I like to remove the plate and wheel and get down into the corners for the best results.
Often the whole kitchen will smell like lemons when I am done!
This is even easier when you clean after every spill or every splatter. Microwaves are used so much more now days that keeping them clean is very important.

I use the microwave every so often and it can be very handy, but I love my stove far more! Yet cleaning a stove is a much bigger job! Enjoy the easy steps of cleaning your microwave and remember....
        Take good care for your kitchen and it will keep you safe!

Advice on Avocadoes

My husband Tony was teasing me when we first met working at the local fruit stand of our small town. "Are you really just eating that avocado whole like that? he asked bewildered as he arrived to start working catching me by surprise. I replied with half a mouth full of the soft green center "Yes, WHY? What's wrong with it?" He watched as I ate the avocado like an apple in my hand at the cash register. As I tossed the outside skin into the trash I still ate around the center pit while he watched in awe then asked again "Why would you eat a WHOLE avocado?" I stood licking my fingers quickly saying back as I began to restocked produce in the late afternoon summer time heat, "For a healthy quick snack." I smiled over my shoulder at him, he just shook his head so I raced off to clean myself up a bit, wondering why did I care what he thought? I liked eating ALL  kinds of things like an apple. Avocados, Sweet Onions, red raw potatoes, I even ate peaches with the fuzz on them because I was in a hurry at work for time and for a quick nutritional snack.  When Tony and I had time again together to chat later on that evening he explained why he was really bothered about me eating avocados. "Avocados are full of fat ya know." He said shaking his head at me again like I was silly. It was one of those moments where I suddenly realized once again how odd I was, I grew up pulling fruit off the tree and eating as I walked the farm. I dug up potatoes from my mother's huge garden and ate them as is. I knew Tony was thinking I was silly to eat everything like an apple while working this fruit stand together but I didn't change my ways only asked Tony what was wrong with fat? I liked avocados for the comfort and energy them gave me along with that uniquely creamy taste. He continued to share what he know about the harmful studies of eating a whole avocado. I slowed down on eating them every week, but I always loved them! When it came to mainstream ideas I broke from traditions, I didn't believe avocados were ever bad for you nor did I like the idea only 1 egg at breakfast time I was always still hungry for more so I ended up embracing my oddly silly different self quite quickly in life. I was teased, I was judged, I was not going to stop being who I was for anyone. Yet when it came to that very common question "Did you wash that?"  "They" would gasp in horror or grab it from my open mouth and race to the sink.... Those people the "they" of my memories was pretty much anyone who saw me pull a carrot out of the ground and start chewing. They would exclaim to me "Debby you have to WASH IT before you can EAT IT!!!"  I didn't agree at all, but usually let them run to the sink in pure panic.
However these encounters went down I still love to be basic, eat raw produce, dust it off or not, I have always believed "If you grow it, then you should know it" I don't like to be fearful of bug poop or germs on my raw real foods. We've really lost our understanding about germs, bugs and true health over the last 50 years, I was either born before my time or past it. Maybe my soul and mind remembers a time in history when they had no hand sanitizer, no packaging or fruit wax. I eat more avocados now in my 30's then ever before! Maybe one every day if I really try to count them all, It's the best kind of fat to stop crazy cravings and heal your skin from the inside out. This kind of fat is VITAL to our over all survival and it's  getting us back to the healthier basics. (If you worry avocados are so expensive remember that the money goes to saving you hundreds of dollars in having good... if not GREAT health when you are old. A Hospital bill in 30 years from now could have bought you a life time of vital nutrition from many, many avocados!
I HEART Avocados  and I live HAPPY!

Breakfast at Debby's

My recipe for leftover tacos stuff, simply put everything on your morning eggs! 
After a big dinner party or huge feast, we usually skip breakfast the following morning doing a 24 hour fast. This is just coffee and water in the mornings after having ate so heavy or late at night. following the 24 hours we eat a lite early dinner then the next morning we are hungry for breakfast again.

Breakfast at my place begins;

Step 1. Make coffee, grind and setup the percolator.

Step 2. Make scramble eggs in soup pot on medium heat, add in chunks of real butter with raw eggs, 5 eggs per serving and stir slowly until almost cook then add a splash of real cream a pinch of pepper and salt, then top with a bit of butter to melt over the cooked pot. set aside for a second to rest.

Step 3. Re-heat taco meat for these pictures it's ground beef (it should already be cooked from the taco night)

Step 4. Place chopped cilantro on the bottom of the dinner plate.

Step 5. Layer on second the taco meat.

Step 6. Pure scrambled eggs over taco meat.

Step 7. Sprinkle freshly shredded cheese over hot steamy eggs.

Step 8.Top with a big spoon of sour cream, salsa and half an avocado.


NOW you can eat away such a hearty filling breakfast and take on your day!

Count it all JOY!

            Last night while having my cousins over I was reminded that I have only 2 more months of our roommate living with us. It wasn't an impossible situation entertaining company cooking dinner while my roommate and his girl cooked too, BUT nevertheless it is a life style I will NOT repeat. So really in retrospect after 9 months, What is 9 more weeks? As my clever hubby would say "We are getting closer to the finish line."
Having a roommate reminds me of my own early 20's when I had an apartment full of girls, it was NOT so romantic of course but I look back a decade later thinking of our good times, My husband and I have never had any good times with our roomy upstairs, I honestly don't think in a decade I will look back to this situation in the same reminiscing way.
It was awkward at first to try so hard to get to know our roommate this past fall, to be extra thoughtful and mindful even careful to never make him uncomfortable around us. Of course we are always here, always home. He has a girlfriend that keeps him busy or away for days, so all in all getting to know him is impossible. If he likes to keep to himself I respect that and have learned he won't speak unless spoken to first. All in all over these months I like to simply count it ALL Joy. For when I count my blessings, I count the reasons why we wanted to stay living on this street and in this home with an already established roommate, I don't take living with such a different type of person personal I simply count it all joy! I won't be stupid of course, I won't miss this time in my life at all. It will be nice to feel comfortable in my own home again where I could read a book without the interruption of loud crazy sexual noises falling over my head from the attic. I won't miss every light in the house being left on or all hours coming and going noises. This was my counting of joy, that truly it will NOT last forever. I think maybe my husband has had the hardest time with this whole situation, we have lived through so many crazy moments that it has brought us even closer, like when we are sound asleep in the darkness of these early cold mornings our roommate comes home from days being gone to make coffee and blind us with sudden lights. My adorable Hubby whispers to me in our pure panic "Quick! put a pillow over your head and count to 100 before reacting." He knows all about my instant temper and when I feel threaten I do attack with such roaring power! (I think it's my mothering ways like a Mama Bear) Instead of reacting I am holding my beating heat as I spat "Like to count to100 then scream count it ALL joy? before I get out of bed swinging?" He chuckles in knowing me so well and piles up our pillows over our heads as our young roommate moves around, sometimes the laughter of his girlfriend echoes the dark sleepy house, then we both really dig down deep into our bedding faster in hopes to hide from the suddenness of it all while I stated "Ya know when I was 22 years old I didn't even know there was 6am hour! Much less was up laughing?" My hubby would groan back at me mockingly saying my own words used on him at the beginning of this living situation "Soooooo just Count it all joy!"

AND I did, or I mean.... I still DO! but also with every honest thought in me from this experience of having a roommate, I am much more wiser then ever before! So Until the first of April then....

Swedish Cream Recipe

Swedish Creams have become my new loved fatty dessert (although having one every night for week isn't healthy as I learned)
There is No crust so No gluten.
No added extra sugars (Could be more tart then you are use to so top with fresh berries or dark chocolate shavings)
No cheating now it's all REAL Creams.

In a big bowl put together;
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Plain yogurt
1 tablespoon of vanilla (Also if you have it add in vanilla bean powder same amount)
Whisk these together for smooth creamy look.

In small sauce pan on medium heat
Add 1 pack of gelatin
1/4 cup of water
Whisk together until all dissolved.

Whisk in heated gelatin mixture to the cream mixture until it's all combined.
Then pour into cups or small bowls

Leave in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours or up to week (Although my Swedish creams NEVER last a week in the frig)  


                      My husband smirked at me as I ordered very simply, directly and quickly in my usual way, "Just the Swedish Cream..." The server continued "Would you like melted Carmel over it?" I replied "No"
"would you like mixed berry sauce?" I replied "No." She asked again in a bewildered confused way "You want a fresh banana and chocolate sauce?" I replied this time with a big understanding smile "NO. I don't want anything on my cup of Swedish cream. I would like it simply AS IT IS. Thank you."
 My husband had sat there with a smirk the whole time saying to me after our server left. "You do know how weird you are not getting any toppings for that dessert..." I replied again with a shrug "I want REAL things, like heavy cream no sugar and no add-ons, black coffee and let me be weird if I live to 100 years then I can explain how I skipped the caramel sauce to live healthy!" My husband chuckled shaking his head at me and almost ate half of my Swedish cream exclaiming "This is AMAZING! It already has vanilla bean in it.... WHY would anyone add on the more toppings? You are NOT the weird one, THE rest of the world is weird if they can't taste how good THIS is on it's own!" He dived into another thick creamy bite from across our table. It was my time to smirk back at my husband now I replied "I shall make this at home when our vacation is over, It will be simply Swedish cream and nothing else!"

Back to School

          This morning I swung back inside knocking the snow off my shoes exclaiming loudly "Man it's COLD out there!" After setting up fresh water bowls for my chickens while my dogs ate their breakfast in their own crates. The icy cold morning woke me right up in my messy braided hair and fuzzy sweater over my Pajamas. TODAY is the end of our Holiday break, it has me a bit down.....I LOVE having my free time in the afternoons for a nap or a good book. For my artsy projects, organizational skills. While it's storms or snows I drink freshly made coffee petting and brushing my cats, I throw the ball around the yard for my dogs and come inside to long conversations with my husband into the early evening when we cook dinner together!
TODAY he goes back to school, law classes and stressful busy organized days.....I get back into my Nanny job, coming up with clever ways to see the kids finish homework or practice piano. It's a new year, a new semester......AND not a life style I enjoy much. Business is a distraction for the soul to grow and find meaningful peace. Yet education is for the mind to stay sharp for I really enjoy all the new topics with my husband's classes, those discussions we have about all he is learning. I usually do my own studying with the kids I nanny for, taking parts of their homework to see if I know it at all as well. From laundry to cleaning and cooking my days will soon be scheduled both at home and in y job. This is what has me a bit down for my creative soul loves when I can be "Snowed in", I love those moments when my dogs all take a nap with me on the couch randomly. ALL the hours I can write, all the romance of the holidays and this morning when I said "Man it's COLD out there!" I waited for my hubby's reply "I know come on in I made coffee....thought we would watch this documentary over breakfast, can you cook up the eggs?" Instead the house was quiet and he was off to work early, in order for him to catch his first class this afternoon......We really had a good cozy time at home, hibernating in the winter is very important to us. Back to school really isn't our kind of life style but doing this now will mean when we are older we won't have to. I think time will soon really FLY right on by! In 6 months from now I will write about the way it all feels so fast, truly the older we get the faster it will all go as well!
For now, for today it is BACK TO SCHOOL, back to work and late nights. Back to cooking ahead and always watching the time......at least until our next break when we will consider it a great day being our PJ's ALL day! 
GET READY, SET, GO!

My Lady Lavender

 On Christmas day I was AMAZED, I was so very AMAZED in receiving my new bike! Dad and Teresa got me this all purple amazing new bike, even the bike seat was nice looking! 
My old used bike from last summer kept getting on Dad's nerves with a chewed up seat and flat tires. He said "You need a better bike then this!" When we went on a few bike rides, I didn't give it much thought so when he actually got me a new bike I was so stunned! Christmas was a magical fun holiday, the fact I got such a great gift blew my mind!

I was so happy to find a cheap old bike last summer, but it was a mess this is true. I was all so proud to ride it downtown with everyone else for lunch only to lock up next to a row of nice looking classy bikes, THAT  was when I first felt very insecure suddenly with my chewed up seat as I chuckled saying to Dad "Well NOW I'm thinking my bike does need work  done... you were right. Just look at all these beauties!"

 It is one of my favorite summer past times to bike all around town through the green belt, amazing trees, past the zoo, through all the parks to down town coffee shops or fun patio pubs....Especially when biking with Dad, Teresa and my hubby Tony. It's really fun staying together on a sunny afternoon with all our bikes, usually with a relaxing break along the way........Now I can do that in Style!

This new bike is so magical, beautifully put together, purple with actual gears, even with pink water bottle to boot!
It's going to be so much fun knowing I can keep up with everyone else now when we go out for a ride!
On Christmas morning I was in such shock and excitment at the sight of my new bike! I named her Lady Lavender at first sight! Both Teresa and Dad loved the name, we made plans for all kinds of things in the bike world!
My heart is so full with thankfulness to have such amazing in-laws! To have such love for the holidays!

(I am proclaiming this the summer of long bike rides and picnics!)  

Saying it BEST

This Christmas eve I received many wonderful gifts from my mother, one was an art work for the wall and even though it was a sticky mess to try and place on my living room wall, I am still so proud of it!  For it says it BEST in starting up this new year!

The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight has lost his way! The trend in Hollywood is to squeeze out trilogies like they are GOLDEN eggs! The poor goose can't always get it right! AUGH to Hollywood's greed, really movies are made everywhere of course Hollywood doesn't even house most movie stars in the real world any more, but it's more of title to an organization that creates a film fantasy.
Time and time again our favorite movie classics get add on to tag additional story lines. Everyone knows with this NEW batman in a decade or LESS he will be forgotten for the net generation of batman so on the story goes!
Has anyone mention this last movie should be called "The Dark Knight gives up." NOT rises! Oh for goodness sake movie writers and directors need to references the first movie to the second in order to hold any value by the 3rd.
It was almost annoying to watch this 3rd movie and thank god I didn't see it in the theater for such waste of my money. Christian Bale makes a good batman, in the first story he was conflicted, in the second he was in love and by the 3rd I thought he didn't have many lines to explain himself very well but everything about him was self-pity and self-destruction. Even when they made him bounce back he was NOT the hero he had been in the 2nd movie. (How can you end the story of batman without the joker anymore anyway) We know Heath Ledger would have carried the 3rd movie on to a proper closure if he had lived. So leave it at that and do not try to make a 3rd movie! Just like when they added on to "The Matrix" or "The Pirates of the Caribbean" it is as if this whole movie making world is beating a dead horse. The story was complete, original and classic new ideas were captured so why add on a second or 3rd movie?!?!? 
I am an original first movie admirer, so if you the movie director can pull it off right then I will happily follow even wait in line until midnight for those GOOD movie series, like with "Lord of the Rings" or "Harry Potter" (for with Harry Potter keeping ALL the same kids from the first film to the last was vital to it's legacy!) We could learn from all these successful story lines, but Batman clearly lost it's way in this last film.......

With this Dark Knight trilogy I groaned and moaned complaining through the first half of the movie that I decided to clean my house during the last half. I was frustrated by the propaganda from this 3rd movie, (also I was distracted thinking about those people killed in the movie theater when this film first aired in Colorado.) This movie didn't make my "Watch again" list in fact it made me a bit sick with all the shootings, the predicable love triangle. Then this bad guy standing up against the government, wasn't even a scary guy ..........REALLY this made a bad guy? There wasn't even a good connection to why Batman and him were even fighting.If you look back at the first movie that bad guy had wild eyes AND did human testing, then the famous Joker arrived in the second film so it's important to have the right kind of bad guy honestly by the time the 3rd movie came along we don't really have a bad guy anymore. We don't even have a story line with Batman anymore. So bring in Spider man or Superman since we can't get out of this classic comic book cycle, for there hasn't been any new heroes in awhile, I am sure if anything new comes along it will be repeated, recreated over the next 50 years.......I hope it's actually GOOD then......

SNOW DAY

              When I was sitting around my Christmas tree at night the only lit up thing in the whole house last month....I felt silently both happy and sad that it couldn't last forever, or at least not through the winter season......my home really does look naked without that tree:-{
This holiday season was oddly different from the last few years, I wasn't running around town donating things and buying tons of toys for tots. I wasn't giving away all kinds of baked goods to very neighbor like the days of living in my condo. I actually do not bake anymore being a paleo person and I am not a financially spoiled housewife like in the years past, since now my husband started law school. This all got me thinking about what traditions make the holidays special and what things we have to change for the new time, the new stage in life's adventures that we live in....
Christmas eve for my first 15 years of life was spent at Grandma and Grandpa Graber's lovely home on the hill, their riches flooded the big farm house, with a tree or 2 on every floor and in every room Christmas decorated it fully! My Grandma's snow village sparkled magically as if a real place to visit, I stared at it for hours much like how I still stare into my Christmas tree this year. When the holidays arrives I remember those first Christmas traditions when my Grandpa would stoked the wood stove as the warm flames decorated the place with my Grandma setting up food trays. Their Gifts were stacked up against the walls and family mingled around. Holiday music played as my memory took it all in, It was a fun time of the year and I always miss my grandparents during this holiday.....
Now as I create my own world, my own home for the holidays, I notice how traditions change year to year for me but that amazing tree stays the same so I sit around it getting warm and hanging out to it's magic!

It will take me awhile to stop missing the holidays as busy as they can get, In was so much fun looking back over last month for I loved being with family and friends! 
I loved decorating my home in more crazy decor then usual. 
Tis a new year now though so I should move forward.....
This snow day over the whole treasure valley has me happily drinking extra coffee looking out my windows, feeling reflective and cuddling all my pets!
When I went to feed and water my chickens they didn't even come out of their coop to see me like usual as the snow piled up on my eye glasses and I ducked back inside I thought of how I miss celebrating Christmas all this snow feels like it should STILL be Christmas!
For THIS is winter in such full glory! I am glad to be staying home in my Pjs all day,Ha!

Once Upon a Time....

When I was little, when I didn't know how to read I would LOOK at books for hours....Because that is how I figured out the story. I would taken in the full picture then break it up into sections of certain details. This helped me figure out the story, I didn't start reading on my own until I was 13 but from 11 to 13 I worked very hard to understand all those words that usually came with the pictures.....
Education came to me really young though because I developed different skills, Like I would draw out my own stories with only a blank piece of paper and pencils, those drawings would fill the page with a long fairy tale story using no words. 
Looking back at myself I realize how quickly I grew into a story teller, with my memory for details, my every experience not always explained to me very good from my parents, but there for the taking in however I grew from it.

The book sale was huge, those big brown boxes laid up against the wall. I wasn't sure where I was but shopping for bargain books with my mom was an all day event so I settled in. Books only with pictures were my eye's focus. I remember sitting against the wall in the corner of the book sale lost in wonder by the amazingly huge book I had found. The full pages of art work, details into other details on just one page told a whole story for my untrained eyes. Words looked magical even though it would be several years later when I actually read this book.
It was a classic Fairy tale book, full of all the real information to each popular short story in the Fairy tales...It was pure fantasy to me!

That afternoon I looked over the heavy big book from cover to cover, I sat in amazement by the colors, those fairies with wide wing spans, the trolls with crazy hair and witches with green skin and the life like pictures sucked me in until I could figure out what was going on! I really was excited to discover this book from the big box sale and I carried it up to my chest as my mother said "No." I began to protest and beg her as I showed her how artistically it was, how it told short stories with really big pictures. "No Debby it's a fairy tale book." My mother waved me on as she was shopping only to glance my way annoyed. "No those stories are not good to fill your head, they are not even real." I paused holding the book out to take in the colorful cover asking my mother uncertain by her reaction "So what are they?" she snorted back "Fairy tales, not real, not true and not good.....now Debby STOP asking we are not buying that book, it's not honoring to God." I sighed sadly but found another spot to sit and look through the pages while we were still there. The scary looking guy who spun straw into gold, the children pushing a witch into the fireplace and the house in the cloud where a bean grew a huge vine over night.....then feeling a bit freak out over the stories I couldn't figure out just by looking over the pictures. By the end of the afternoon I had memorized the drawn details in this book, No one had ever told me about fairy tales as a kid I grew up with stories from the bible (rather a different style of "fairy tales" one that some say even my parents say are REAL but really I think it just holds life lessons like the classic fairy tales of our past) As a little girl that afternoon I kept holding onto the book of pictures, I knew if it looked bad or scary I should turn the page my mother was always telling me God can see what I see and knows when I see bad things, things I shouldn't ever see so sometimes I would close my eyes hoping God wasn't watching through my eyes at scary pictures of the bad queens and bad magic filled pages....This was a wonderland of mixed emotions in all of these new pictures and stories for me! I held on to this book tightly for the whole time my mother shopped. A few hours later when my mother was checking out and leaving she told me to put the book back but the cashier lady said I could keep it for free because of all my mother's other purchases. The joy and excitement I felt was amazing! I carried the heavy book with me all the rest of the day and even slept close by with it that first night thinking of how lucky I was to get the book for myself. My mother annoyingly went along with the whole situation, often explaining to me how important God was to believe in over the fairy tales. I never understood why the book always made her uncomfortable, that she kept telling me through the years of that book on my shelf, that the black magic parts in those stories are of Satan and the good parts are of God, yet the fairy tale book was never to be thought of as real stories because only the bible was actually the real stories............... So now that I am older I realize what she was so afraid of! She was afraid that my imagination could grow outside of "Jona and the Whale", of "Water into wine" or "Fire from heaven" from the bible to "Kissing frogs for the right prince" or "falling down rabbit holes" from my newly found book!
My fantasy world came to me like magic one day when I was little, when I couldn't even read and I was forever changed into hoping there was maybe a fairy godmother watching over me also, I now LOVE watching magical movies and that incredible new TV series "Once Upon a Time..."

For life is made real only by believing!

BRAVE

            This is such a beautiful movie! I was really taken by surprise over it's amazing beauty! This red headed girl in "Brave" wasn't the typical fairy tale princess one would expect and along with the music, the excitement of her story starts off with such cleverness that soon you are truly into the story....I could watch this movie over and over again for it's Amazing! FULL of life lessons and inspiration! Most importantly for me I saw my own mother in the Queen, in this mother/daughter relationship I related on a very emotional level.
They did a great job portraying the personality differences and the common ground both a Mother and Daughter can share. I remember once thinking to myself when I was younger....the same idea in this movie.....
 "If I can change my Mum, that will change my fate."

This action pack story is both magical and truthful in how we come to our senses over the other person's feelings in our lives. Before my mother's stroke, she was all about such rules in obeying God more then just being my mother. For all those years when I was growing up, she was preparing me for "Motherhood". I was left to feel frustrated, misunderstood and disrespected...even more importantly very "trapped" while around my mother's expectations. She was full of sermons, speeches and long listed opinions, she was guarded and judgmental. She had perfection in a belief system that was almost untouchable. I learned once I had grown up in how I could respectfully give my mother her time, give her speeches an ear and all her rules the respect she deserved, then when that set time was up I took myself away, gave respect to myself a very different person from her, MUCH like in this movie when the princess Merida goes riding through the forest on her horse in a glorious morning...THAT was how I saw my own time away from my mother also! The love I have for my mom was made stronger when not always around her, when not always being scolded or corrected by her. (Mothers often treat their children very differently from how they treat everyone else.) There is a special bond between mothers and their children that can be broken or strengthen simply by the choices we make in the end....

       "Brave" has this way of showing these same familiar situations I could totally relate to, this made me realize how very much like the Queen my mother went through a similar journey in changing, growing and learning to be a different person over all....Like Before my mother's stroke she was all about proper rules and preaching about God's judgement. After my mother's stroke she changed into this sweet softness, where as she is more open and honest with her words.  My mother went through major trauma to realize how her old rules don't have to be so strict anymore, and I truly find it easier to be around her in all these new conversations, it was a hard journey to live through........just like in the movie where this mother and daughter had to find each other in that emotionally perfect ending.

 Proving once again how taking the time to fix such mistakes in our past will better our future.....

                                                                       for one day when all the distractions are swept away, we will see what we are really made of in the end!