Confessions of a Grandma

I am SO exhausted.  I can't even think straight.  But because I am so tired I have been having giggling fits as I survey this scene: Consider it the the "Before."

The movers are here and the truck is filling up.  I haven't wasted a moment feeling sad about the impending move until today When all of a sudden the enormity hit me. My neighbor came by for a hug.  I said  good-bye to my mailman of so many years.  The house is nearly empty now.  I am having a moment of nostalgia after being flat out busy for the past couple of months.

I have finished my ayurvedic cleanse . I thought, when I started two weeks ago, that the first thing I would do upon completion is make a pot of coffee.  I chose to have detox herbal tea yesterday.  I made a pot of coffee this morning and had one sip before letting it grow cold and dumping it down the drain.  OMG! What if that happens with wine too?? It was a great exercise in mindful eating.  I have to confess that I get in the habit of completely mindless snacking as the weather starts to cool down and the days get shorter.   What shall I do now?  Oh, well, why not have a bag of chips while I think about it?   Hmm, no, that didn't do it.  Maybe I need a brownie.   And the stress of an impending move did nothing to help out the situation. I feel really well now.  My cranky skin has cleared up completely, and my energy is back.  I get a little achy in my back from lifting and moving packed boxes down to the garage, but I few m...

By this time next week I may not be settled but I will, at least, be residing in my new home.  I was in a panic this morning about getting rid of some large and unwanted items.  Well, things fall into place.  My son knew a woman at work who wanted a new bureau and the ReStore in Burlington called this morning to say they could come on Wednesday and pick up the rest of it. An auction house is coming tomorrow to take away some of the large and more valuable items that I do not have room for. I will take some items that Amy wanted to her on Tuesday. On Thursday, the movers are coming to empty out the house.  Kevin and I will go out for dinner and sleep in sleeping bags that night. Friday I will start UNpacking. I expect my normal life will be quite on hold for the week.

My grand son did not have school on Friday and he wanted to come for a visit with grandma.  My daughter went to his parent-teacher conference on Thursday.  He is doing very well in third grade.  He has rather amazing math skills.  He wanted to tell me all about it.  He said, "And there was some not so good stuff in there, too." "Behavior stuff, like not paying attention sometimes and being a bit silly?" I asked. "Yeah." "Well, you are getting your work done and it's good work too so don't worry too much." *** After my friend picked on me for doing a cleanse, I asked at dinner time, "So, do you think I am crazy for eating this cleanse food?" He made a thoughtful face. "Yes, actually I think a cleanse is crazy...But I'm a kid!  You're a grown-up.  I say go for it!" *** On the way back to his home, he commented, "Grandma, you have your seatbelt on.  That's good.  Do you always wear ...

I hired a company to dig up my underground fuel tank and they were supposed to come on October 8.  Unfortunately, there was a train wreck in central Vermont and they were called in to help with that clean up.  I had to wait. Well, they were able to come last Wednesday.  It wasn't a beautiful day.  They got rained on.  (But at least it wasn't snow, which we had on Sunday!) The tank was rusty looking, but there were no leaks and no soil contamination, for which I am especially grateful.

I an in the reset phase of the fall ayurvedic cleanse.  The intent is to reset the digestive system.  We are eating easy to digest food so that the digestive tract can concentrate on clearing out any accumulated gunk.  The easy to digest food is yellow mung bean dahl and Basmati rice.  Yes, it is pretty bland by itself, but you can dress it up with spices and vegetables.  I had it with cinnamon and rice milk for breakfast, like a hot cereal.  I have had it with curried vegetables and with scallions, garlic,  and pea shoots.  Still, it is the same basic dish three times a day for a full week. I know I am serious about this because I made popcorn for my grandson while we watched a movie last night (Charlie and The Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp :) ) and I made him a waffle and cocoa for breakfast and was not even tempted to sneak a taste of any of it.  I do miss my apple though. My friend said, "What a flake!"  Yes.  But I f...

I was at the orchard to get some apples.  A woman there explained why the honey crisp apples are so expensive.  Honey crisp have a very high water content and they grow quite large.  Therefore, they are very heavy and the tree branches are likely to break under the weight of too many apples.  The growers have to go out and hand pick to thin out the crop throughout the growing season.  It is a more labor intensive apple to grow. The Columbus Day weekend is prime time for the leaf peeping tourists in Vermont.  Fortunately, I can just look out my kitchen window and see the color.  I think they are a bit muted this year compared to some years though. We went to see Kim Russo in Hartford this past weekend.  It was pretty amazing.  No Spirit stepped up to give us messages, but the people who did obviously needed to hear what they were told.  And what better way to complete the experience than by taking a walk through the Cedar Hill Cem...

Here is my life lately: Clearing out the excess stuff from my house and eating. While I usually try to maintain a healthy diet, with the stress of selling, buying, moving, I have slipped into a pretty mindless pattern of snacking--a lot--on some not so good for me stuff. The yoga studio where I go to practice was offering a Ayurvedic fall cleanse. Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine that may be somewhat controversial . However, the idea that stress affects the gastrointestinal tract, leading to poor digestion, in turn leading to imbalance and eventual disease, makes a certain amount of sense to me. The cleanse was put out there for those who are feeling stressed and overwhelmed (check), fatigued (check), unfocused (check), and constipated (check +).  Since Metamucil has recently become my beverage of choice, I figured that this was something I really need to do.  I am on a cleaning out roll now in all aspects of my life! The theory is that eating a diet of easil...

I have returned from a weekend getaway.  One of the things I got away from was my computer and it was kind of refreshing.  But now I have a lot of catching up to do!

The other day I was listening to a conversation among some women at yoga class.  They were discussing new mattresses and a couple of them were advising the woman who wanted to buy a new mattress to spend a lot of time testing them out.  Stretch out in the store and stay there longer.  If you have a partner, make sure that person is there as well. This struck me because I had been thinking earlier about the people that bought my house.  They got the building inspection report but they only actually got to see the house once.  I don't know how long they spent looking at it, but they were gone when we went back home after two hours.  That doesn't seem like a lot of time spent for such a major purchase. I mean we test drive cars.  We test out mattresses.  We try on clothes and walk around in new shoes before we buy.  At least we used to before online shopping. I saw the condo I am buying and I went back and was there for the building inspec...

For the past several weeks I have been getting calls from two different numbers with the area code of 213.  Since I don't know anyone in Los Angeles who might need to call me, I have just been ignoring the calls. The result of that has been an increase in the number of calls. Three, four, even five calls every day. I finally smartened up and learned how to block numbers. There is never a message left from either of these numbers.  That would suggest more urgency to me than the frequency of calls. Telemarketers must just hate the new phone technologies.

I was at the market the other day and decided to get some apples.  It is apple season.  When did there get to be so many different kinds of apples? Kiku? Sansa?  I remember the choice between MacIntosh and Red Delicious and waiting for my favorite, Northern Spys, to ripen.  Now you have no idea what you are going to get. This site  has an alphabetical listing of around 600 varieties of apples.  I have to confess I really like the Honeycrisp for eating.  I have not tried them for baking. I like to stop at the Middlebury Co-op when I am passing through on the way to see the grand kids.  They have a variety of apples from local growers and they have trays of samples so you can try before you buy. ******* I was on my way to get a haircut this afternoon and a car pulled out in front of me while I was stopped at a red light.  The sign on the side of the car advertised "Reptile Children's Parties."  That's a thing?  How much of a c...

I took some pictures on my walk today and thought about the things I will miss once the move is complete. I will miss my home of the past 22 years. And I will miss quiet walks in the country. Land in transition.  The forest is marching its merry way into the meadows. But there is still meadow. This is the view of my house from the hill behind it.  The fall colors are unusually muted for this time of year.  I had to look down to see some pretty leaves. I may be moving into town, but I will still be in Vermont after all.  These scenes are never far away and always easy to find. But I will miss my house...just not taking care of it by myself.