Fall break

Quick post, as I am frantically rushing to get out the door (how typical). I'll be travelling for a while and tackling some projects, so will take a short break from my blog. I'll miss you, but will be back November 6th with some fresh pictures for you to enjoy. Meet me here then, and, in the meantime, enjoy the pumpkins and the cooler weather.

the AT&T blues

When I tell you I am not good with technology, you probably think I am joking or exaggerating. Not so. I mean, would a tech-savvy person spend two hours and forty-seven minutes on the phone with AT&T only to end up never having solved her original problem? Probably not, but I did. No lie, no embellishment. I actually spent one hundred and sixty seven minutes on the phone this morning and have a stiff neck  to prove it. The main reason I was calling was to add a thirty minute international plan for some upcoming travel. Here's a list of what did and did not get accomplished.

Did get accomplished:

1. I made a new friend called Wilmer who I spoke with for two hours twenty minutes. I will be flying down to Acapulco to attend Wilmer's wedding next April. That's how tight we are now.

2. I got Wilmer to deduct twenty-five bucks from my last month's bill, just because I am such a good, longstanding customer (not to mention what a fun phone conversationalist I am).

3. Wilmer found me a better plan than the one I had, thus saving me sixteen dollars and thirty-six cents per month.

4. Wilmer talked me through signing up for AT&T app and the Apple apps store in a failed attempt to help me sign up for my thirty international minutes myself, as the wait time for the AT&T international plan rep. was so long. Notice I said failed attempt. Getting me through the myriad of screens and questions to even attempt this was a bizarre and painstaking ordeal akin to making a wig out of braided angel hair pasta, or perhaps herding a possee of ants across the Gobi desert.

Before he tried to talk me through this, he said, "Don't worry, it's easy. Last month, I helped a seventy-year-old lady. I had to force her to try and by the end, she was an app pro." Not to be outdone, I agreed to try as well. After about thirty minutes of listening me mutter stuff like... crap, dang it, why won't it take this password?, how did I get to this screen?, Wilmer goes, "Wait a minute, let me see if I can get a hold of that international representative now." He did and quickly transferred me off to her. Harrumph. Some buddy he turned out to be. I'll have to re-think that lavish wedding gift I was planning.

5. Got disconnected by two different international AT&T reps. When I started talking to the second one, I made sure he had my number, and got him to promise to call me back if we got disconnected, which, of course, we did just before I gave him the final go-ahead to add the thirty minutes to my plan. As usual, I had a few questions first. We got disconnected on my last question. It's been over an hour now and I'm still waiting for him to call me back. Is it me? I thought I was being polite, even jovial. Perhaps a mean voice would have scared him into calling me back. Note to self: develop mean voice.

Did not get accomplished:

1. Setting up a thirty minute international plan for my phone. You may recall this was the reason I called AT&T in the first place this morning. Isn't technology supposed to save time?

********

Anyhow, after the second disconnection, I was resting with a cup of hot tea, waiting for my blood pressure to normalize, when my daughter Lauren happened to call. She barely got out, "Mom, how's it going?" before I blurted, "I'm going insane... I've just spent almost three hours...."

Turns out, she has access to the account on-line and she travels internationally a lot, so she knows how to set up all that crap. "Mom, do not try to call them back. It's easy to set that up on-line. I'll go into the account and take care of that for you this afternoon."

Yay! There is a God, I thought, and he has my back. I may be horrible at technology, but I do have some pretty darn stellar kids. As they say, it's not what you know...

imagine

This picture reminds me of the importance of imagination. I revel in sitting still and seeing where my thoughts will take me. I am learning not to struggle to be a certain thing or way, but just to relax and see what happens. I think this is what faith is about, finding quiet to hear what God will whisper.

Repose

I am me,
finally free
of expectations
and pretend.

I sit and 
breathe under
imagination
without end.
 
           -2013 Kimberly Laustsen

adventures in pork chops

I had an exciting pork-chop adventure the other day. As background, let me say that, to me, pork is the king-daddy-rat of meats: the tastiest. Up till then, I'd only ever baked my pork chops. Don't know why. I guess you get in a rut, and it sticks to the point that you can't imagine other possibilities.

So there I was, wallering around in my baked-chop rut, when a friend told me that frying was the best way to cook pork chops. How have I survived this long without knowing that? So I decided to give the frying thing a whirl. I'm nothing if not open minded. Wow. My world is officially rocked.

Fried pork chops are the best. I would like them in a car, I would like them in a bar, I would like them anyplace I are. They are so easy to make. Here's how to make two chops, multiply recipe as needed:

Assemble:
2 medium-thick pork chops
2 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon star anise, ground (optional)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 apple peeled and chopped
1/4 medium onion chopped

Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Dredge chops in this mixture. Melt the butter in a frying pan with the olive oil on medium heat. Put the onions in one corner of the pan, the apples in another, and the chops in the middle. Sprinkle the star anise over the top of the chops. Stir the onions and apples occasionally as you cook the chops until no pink remains when cut, about 7 minutes per side. Before flipping them over, I held the chops, fat-edge-down, against the pan for a minute or so to get the little edge along the side crispy. When the chops are done, put on plate, stir onions and apples together (you may want to swish a little wine into the pan for this), and spoon over the chops.

I served this with steamed cauliflower with cheese sauce, and baked sweet potatoes. For the cheese sauce, I put some Velveeta in a dish with milk and microwaved it for a minute or so. Simple and delish.

the ABC's of gratitude

Aargh. Don't you wish that worthwhile things were easy? In my life, that does not seem to be the case. First there's the fitness thing. I have learned to get my butt to the gym several nights a week for yoga, swimming, weights, and the elliptical because if I don't, I get all twisted and achy, thanks to my lifetime total of twenty broken bones. I guess every cloud has a silver lining. Some of my broken bones were due to me being a klutz, some due to misfortune. Whatever. We must take what we're given and make it work.

Second, there's the mental attitude thing. I would like to always be naturally happy and buoyant, I would like to be this even-keel person, like Quiet Guy, who never gets hyper and never gets the blues. But I am the opposite of that, and strive to feel lovable, while freakishly expecting every single day to be great.

This is all my mother's fault, of course. Not really, but... the woman could, and often did,  pack up and move our entire household at the drop of a hat, sometimes without my knowledge until I got to the new house. How does that happen? Despite all the uncertainty, we had some amazing adventures and never got bored living in the same place. I don't know why I bring this up, except that when my sisters were here, we talked about all the places we'd lived growing up, which, at fourteen, was less than I thought. I seemed to remember something closer to a thousand.

Anyhow, the truth is that, just as with my broken bones, I must cultivate wholesome habits of thought to optimize my outlook, and they are just as difficult as power yoga. Besides prayer and meditation, gratitude is the most helpful habit I have found. Practicing gratitude benefits my emotions like working out helps my body, and it is always available only a thought away. Gratitude is the opposite of worry because, whereas worry focuses on potential future problems, gratitude is all about appreciating the now.

The important thing about gratitude is that I can't just accept that it's a good idea, but have to actually spend time each day actively doing it. I need to do my grateful sit-ups, as it were. When I am tempted to worry, I have to force myself to replace that thought with something I am grateful for, such as my dog or the beautiful sky overhead. Every night, I conjure up three things I am grateful for from the day, and ponder those for a while. This gives me peace. Today, I took these photos of the apple, bee and morning coffee I was grateful for. How would I ever get out of bed without that coffee? It might be possible, but I hope I never have to find out. Life is mysterious. Life is a journey. Be grateful.

simple

If I plan things right, by the time I die I'll have only a bed, a kitchen table and chairs, a few pots and pans, a couple books, a pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, a few t-shirts, my dog and quiet guy by my side. Lately, I am into shedding stuff more than ever. Is it age, or a function of lingering hot flashes? Today, I cleared out another stack of books, several fabric swatches, a scratchy pillow case (ain't nobody got time for that), and a useless (though cute) lamp, which I have had no place to put since the day I picked it up at Goodwill, ten years ago.

These days, stuff weighs me down. It seems to take up mental space, as well as physical space, and I don't want to be tethered to things, only to people and art. It's weird, but in some ways, it seems that the less stuff I have, the more room in my heart for creativity and calm.

It reminds me of one of the authors I work with. She is an elegant older woman with a house full of treasures and a schweet, fancy car. She told me that, one summer, she went to Turkey to study languages and stayed in a small room with only a bed, chair, kitchen table and small shelf for a few clothes and books. She said that was her favorite summer ever. She spent her days talking to people on the streets, reading, learning, and translating words. She longs to return to that tiny simple lifestyle one day for good. I always remember her story. It sounds so enticing. As the Shakers said, " 'Tis a gift to be simple".

State Fair

I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to say that the Texas State Fair is not to be missed if you can help it. My sisters and I went there last Tuesday to see the new Big Tex, eat some fried food, see some pigs race and see some cooking demos. The new Tex is about as interesting as the old Tex. Hey, people - things change- accept it.

Apparently the new Tex has been somewhat controversial, what with his darker skin color, fancy boots and larger size. I say, life is short, roll with it, peeps. We cannot always choose what happens (old Tex burned down), but we can choose to be happy now (new Tex is adorable in his own way. And besides, he's not a real person so, icon or no, who really cares all that much?)

We also saw the African Acrobats show, which was short, but cool. We got there early and chatted some with the guys, who were so nice. Those dudes work hard and really get around. They have performed all over Europe and in lots of states, like Pennsylvania, where they do school assemblies.

I wonder

Oh my gosh. My IPhone almost got turned back in yesterday in favor of my good old dumb phone after I spent an hour and a half talking to tech support from AT&T then Apple. Turns out Siri, this random voice who lives inside my phone, turned herself on and took control of my phone. She would not let me get inside my system to turn her off. 

Why do these things happen to me? How did Siri do it? It remains a mystery, but eventually, after many failed attempts and disconnected calls, one dude from Apple was able to talk me through getting Siri turned off. Aargh. Of course, this happened when I was rushing out the door for a girls night at my friend's lake house. 

The bad news is I was late, the good news is that I made it and my phone is working fine now. The girl's night was super fun. It featured wine, junk food, stories, more wine, giggling, chocolate, and stuff like that. I always learn so much from listening to other people's stories and I treasure every person in my life. What fascinates me is how different we all are, yet how perfectly made each person is to accomplish their own particular mission. How this all happens is a delicious mystery.

In other news, I am in love with the crisp, sunny weather that has come to Dallas this weekend. Finally, temperatures which require one to wear a jacket after sunset. Fall is amazing. It makes me so happy to feel the evening chill!

on to the next

It is day eight of sister's week, and I am still standing. Whew. We've seen tons of sights and hung around twenty-four-seven, thus I have not blogged, worked on photography, or done any of my regular schtick all week, except cook and clean up, of course. Dang, where's that maid when you need her?  

It is interesting to step away from your regular life once in a while to jump into a different one. My last sister goes to the airport in a few minutes. I'll miss them both, but we made the most of our time together, and that's the important thing. Every bit of life holds something to embrace and enjoy, and, as I float along, I am working on keeping my hands open to grasp what passes by and on letting go when that is done to grab what comes next. This is harder than it sounds, but the older I get, the more I see how many treasures this old world holds. 

Take yesterday: I finally joined this century and got a smart phone (IPhone 4s). Yikes. My sister Lisa guided me through the trauma of getting it. I have irrational phobias about technology and my lack of skills. Now I have to learn to use the thing. If you call me in the next few days, and I don't answer, it's probably because I don't know how. Wish me luck. 

These photos are from the The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum at SMU, which was my favorite of all the sights we tackled this week. If you get the chance to visit it, jump on it, as it is so well done and fascinating. Though, it's closed now during the shut down. Thankfully, we got there the day before it closed.