Earlier this week I mentioned that I live in the country. This is a relatively new thing for me, and I am finding that it is quite different than suburbia. I grew up in a quiet little neighborhood. All the neighbor kids would come over and we would run from yard to yard and play in the culdesac until dark. I always pictured myself in a quaint and classy little town home where I would lace up whatever colored tennis shoes that matched my outfit for the day and walk my sassy self to the store or take a stroll down the lane with my little ones to the park to play. Then I married a country boy. He is redneck to the core and I love him for it. We did the apartment and the neighborhood thing for a while, but eventually we ended up in a little house on acreage in what feels like the middle of nowhere. Now we are a little country family, and I am a country girl.
Let me tell you now having “gone country,” it is not always as glamorous as those Country and Southern Living Magazines make it out to be. Believe me, I wish it was. I try to make it that way, but it is more like an adventure. Especially for me, it is like an adventure into the unknown. One morning I woke up and there were 2 horses and a donkey in my front yard. I don’t own horses or a donkey. They were from the next property over. Getting them back was fun. I’ve learned to stop for turkeys. Turkey crossing is a real thing. I’ve been chased off the road by a pot belly pig. I met their owner as she was running down the road after it with a handful of apples calling “here piggy, piggy!” She really is a nice lady. Spiders are not the biggest thing that comes into the house uninvited, dead or alive. I’ve met many mice and something called a mountain beaver. We are not friends. My most recent adventure is gardening. You may not think that this is much of an adventure, but let me tell you how I was introduced to compost. Oh compost. You have taught me so much. I used to think that compost was this soft, dark, rich matter that smelled like earth. I didn’t really realize where it came from, that was until my husband took me to pick some up…at a farm. He told me that he had contacted a farmer that had organic compost for sale. I loved this idea until we pulled into a dairy farm. Cows… lots and lots of cows. Yeah, that organic compost was made of cow poop, cow poop that had been sitting there for a while. That nice old farmer had posted that it was so good that it didn’t even smell. His nose must have needed a vacation because my house smelled like cow poop for two weeks after we brought it home. My son thought the pile of compost was amazing and was elbows deep into it before I could reach him. My dog also thought it was pretty spectacular. She’s a long haired German Shepard who pranced around in it as if it was snow. She flung it everywhere, and then they both decided they wanted to come into the house. I’m a germ phobic neat freak who about had a heart attack. “Poop! Poop everywhere,” that’s all that ran through my head. “Boots off,” my son said. Thanks buddy, but that’s not going to help Momma. My plants love the compost though. They are growing tall in their raised garden beds. A few weeks have passed and now I don’t mind it if my son plays king of the mountain. Bath time usually follows, but he’s enjoying himself and points out what is growing each day. Spending time outside is one my favorite things now too. I love to find what’s peeking out of the ground each day. Even now as I look out my window, the sun is shining and I can see the little plant babies reaching for the sky. Sigh…happiness. Thank you for letting me share with you a little piece of me. I hope this little piece of country living has brought you a smile and lifted your spirits. Have a wonderful rest of your day my friends!
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Have you ever heard the phrase “attitude is everything, so pick a good one”? I have this saying hanging in my kitchen and I call upon it every day. This past year has been one of the hardest years of my life. Every day seems to come with a new challenge that I must overcome. I could very easily be over taken by the blues, but I choose not to be. Here’s an example of what I mean by a challenge:
I ate steak and I ended up in the Emergency room. Sound crazy? Yes, but it’s true. Last week my sweet husband suggested we eat steak for dinner one night. I could feel that my body was craving iron so I thought “sure. Red meat is a great source of iron. I’ll just cut it up into tiny pieces and chew it beyond recognition and I should be fine.” I was wrong. My esophagus rebelled and started to swell. Over the next 36 hours it became so inflamed that I was having chest pains and difficulty breathing. I couldn’t finish a sentence without being out of breathe and I knew I was in trouble. The worst part was that by this point it was the middle of the day and I was home alone with my two year old son. I live in the country so I don’t have close neighbors, and my closest friend or family member was 30 minutes away. Not to mention that the last time we had to call 911 for an emergency at our house, the Fire Truck and Ambulance got lost while on their way. No joke. I was scared, but I did not want to scare my son. So I made a few calls and we played quietly on the floor while waiting for help to arrive. This could have been a terrifying situation and very easily turned into a negative one. Instead I choose to find the positive. What is it? You may ask. Well, I now know that steak is probably not a good option for me. When I feel like I need iron, I will blend up leafy greens and peas. More importantly though, I know what to do the next time I feel my esophagus start to swell and a tightness in my chest. Next time I will take a strong anti-inflammatory and an antacid, both in liquid form of course, and my symptoms should subside. No more ER visits for Danielle, let’s hope. This is just one example of life’s challenges that I faced recently. You may be having a challenge of your own that you are facing. It is very easy to become overwhelmed by life’s challenges. I get overwhelmed by my situation sometimes, but then I remember I have a choice. I may not have chosen this situation for myself, but I can choose my attitude about it. I could be sad and depressed and let it take over my life, but what good would that do? Then I would just be sad and depressed. I’ve been there before and that only makes it harder. Instead I choose to overcome. In whatever challenge you are facing right now, I hope you choose to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Find the good in every bad my friend, because the good is what keeps you going. This last week was a tough week, but I learned a lot in this battle between me and my esophagus. I learned that I need to listen. It started last Friday with that amazing walk. What a high point that was for me mentally, but my body thought differently. It asked for two days to recover after the walk, but I didn’t let it. We had a full weekend planned and I wouldn’t let the exhausted feeling I had get me down. Well, the full weekend was followed by busy a Monday, and a very long Tuesday. Again I thought “I can do this.” Then Wednesday came. My son and I were invited to go to the local Children’s Museum with friends and even though I woke up with pain in both my body and my chest I thought: “we’re going. My son would love this, and I’m not going to let how I feel ruin this for him. He deserves to go and we both love seeing our friends.” Do you see the trend? I’m a bit stubborn like that. I’m competitive and I hate to lose. So in my mind I had this battle going against my body. It would not win, or so I thought.
I really should have listed to what my body was trying to say because I got a very big wake-up call at the Children’s Museum. My son doesn’t walk, he runs. He ran through that Museum, which meant of course that mommy ran through the Museum too. After about an hour, I hit a wall. My body said “no thank you, you are done.” Thank goodness that they had a 3 and under room with a half door that only opened from the outside. I steered my son to that room and sat with tears in my eyes. I was having painful spasms in my chest and was shaking like a leaf. I didn’t know what to do, so I drank an Ensure and prayed that the nutrients would absorb quickly and that I would find my strength. My son didn’t understand why mommy was upset and kept asking me to come and play with him. I couldn’t play. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do anything but sit there, defeated and heartbroken. The worst part of the whole thing is that moment could have been avoided if I would have listened to my body when it was telling me to slow down. It was trying to tell me for five days, but I didn’t listen. Listening wasn’t the only lesson I learned this week. I also learned that I need accept myself for who I am at this moment. It is okay to have goals and to work towards the person I want to be, but I have to remind myself to love the person I am now otherwise I’m never going to get there. I may have limitations, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not a good person. I’m still a good mom, a good wife, a good friend. I can still be all the things that I strive to be. I just might have to go about them a little bit differently than I did before. One of my favorite quotes is: “everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.” I think this applies when we look at ourselves too. You may be fighting a battle right now. I hope you are kind to yourself. Give yourself a break, and don’t forget to listen. You may come across a set back or two in life, but you will get to where you want to go. Two things are happening that I am very excited about. One, I walked for an hour today and two, I’m planting my first vegetable garden. The first thing may not seem like a big deal, but let me assure you it is. Over the last year, my strength has declined greatly and I become fatigued very quickly. This makes activities like walking for long periods of time very difficult to do, but today I made a break through. Today I had the best walk with a friend. The sun was shining and we talked and laughed as we pushed our two happy kiddos in our strollers. Before I knew it, an hour had gone by. It was like old times, before my struggle with Esophageal Dysmotility, and I know that it was because I am finally getting the nutrients I need. This brings me to number two: the vegetable garden. Since I am only able to eat little bits at a time, I have to make every bit count. It has been said that fruits and vegetables have the highest nutritional content when they are harvested and eaten at the time of their peak maturity. Since I am focusing on being purposeful with our meals and making sure that they have a high nutritional value, the thought of being able to pick ingredients fresh out of the garden and use them in whatever meal I am preparing is thrilling. Plus the best part is that I am doing this with my son. We are planting the garden together and I am teaching him about food, about where it comes from and how to eat healthy. He already loves to cook with me, and now he loves to plant the seeds and to watch the vegetables grow. He even sings to them “grow baby, grow baby, little baby grow,” he says. We are just starting our garden so we have many months to learn and to watch our garden grow. I look forward to every day with him as we check our plants and see what has changed from yesterday. There is new life beginning all around.
With spring comes new growth and new beginnings. I hope you have your own new beginnings my friend, and allow yourself to grow. It is amazing what you can do when you give yourself a chance. Go for it! This week my little guy came down with a cold and his first ear infection. He was not a happy camper and refused to eat anything substantial. Toddlers are famous for being picky eaters, even more so it seems when they are sick, but I knew what would peak his interest. Nothing makes you feel better than a warm bowl of Chicken Soup. Thankfully my son loves my Chicken and Rice Soup. He couldn't wait for me to finish making it and promptly asked for a bowl. He then ate two more bowl fulls. That made for a happy mommy and a happy boy. The best part of this recipe is that not only is it healthy and easy to make, but it tastes great blended up too. It's a win, win for my whole family. I have included the recipe below. Feel free to take a look!
Chicken and Rice Soup Ingredients: 10 Cups Chicken Broth* 2 Cups Cooked Chicken Pieces** 1/2 Large Sweet Onion Chopped 2 Cups Carrots Chopped 1 Cup Celery Chopped 1/2 Cup Uncooked Rice 1 Tbsp Granulated Garlic 1 Tbsp No Salt Seasoning Mix*** Salt and Pepper to Taste Directions: Add 2 Tbsp Chicken Broth to Dutch Oven. Add Sweet Onion, Carrots, and Celery to Dutch Oven. Saute on Medium High Heat until the onion turns translucent. Add Granulated Garlic, No Salt Seasoning Mix, and Salt and Pepper to vegetables. Next add the Chicken pieces. Stir to combine. Add the remaining Chicken Broth to the Dutch Oven and bring the contents to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add Rice. Simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Tada! That’s it! *You may notice that I substituted Chicken Broth in place of Olive Oil when sauteing the vegetables. I found that the soup is greasy if I saute the vegetables in oil. Chicken Broth works just fine. **I usually use left over roasted chicken from the previous evening's meal. Feel free to use whatever chicken you have on hand. ***You may find multiple varieties of No Salt Seasoning Mix. The Mrs. Dash brand has their own line. I am partial to the Kirkland brand No Salt Seasoning Mix from Costco myself. It is a vegetable and spice medley and the smell of the spices remind me of Chicken Soup so it works well. Again though, please find one that works for you and your family. |
AuthorHi there! Welcome to Grace In A Glass. My name is Danielle and I am so happy that you are visiting this site today. We all have something in life that we are working to overcome. I began blogging about my struggle with overcoming Esophageal Dysmotility and Crohn's Disease with the hope of reaching others with words of encouragement and hope. Thank you for letting me share my stories with you, and hope you have the most wonderful day! Archives
November 2022
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