……………..I rubbed it with a lot of fresh rosemary

After debating how to prepare it, I cooked a turkey breast in an oven bag — first time ever. The meat took on the flavor of the fresh herbs I rubbed it with: fresh chopped rosemary, sage, thyme, tarragon.  It was the first turkey breast I’ve ever cooked that was juicy and flavorful. It weighed almost 7 lbs and cooked at 325 for 15 minutes per pound — 101 minutes. The internal temp was 165 when I pulled it out and rose to 185 after sitting.  We had baked potatoes and I filled acorn squash halves with an eggplant, herb and crouton stuffing.  I had a saute of fresh broccoli and green beans with red pepper, and made my fave fresh broccoli salad that didn’t make it to the table.  The morning was spent in kitchen prep, and doing the dance of moving things from a large pot to a small pot.  I wash everything as I go. When I’m done cooking, the kitchen is clean before I sit down to eat. I recall one of us kids always had to do dishes as part of our chores for allowance, and there were always a ton of dishes for the family after dinner. I broke the chain of that family curse!

RELATED: My Thanksgiving 2014 (fruit chutney recipe!)
Some favorite vegan Thanksgiving recipes here

I love Christmas Eve. I don’t celebrate commercially but Dec. 24th marks the beginning of a week off for me.  I always cook on Christmas Day and prep for it on Christmas Eve.  But first, I began the day by labelling the January Horizons subscriptions and got them to the post office as they opened.   Next door,  I got my five gallon jugs for the water cooler refilled at The Waterman.  We took a drive to the beach and ended up at the dog beach so we checked out the pooches.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  I drove up the coast and took the scenic South Tropical Trail route back. I love driving in the sunshine.  I felt on a roll getting things done, so we stopped at K & C Oriental Market for keffir lime leaves, lemongrass, fresh ginger, galangal, red peppers and chuka soba. We’re stocked up and ready to hunker down until holiday madness subsides.   Continue reading →

Residential collection services will NOT be provided on Memorial Day, July 4th, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
For holidays fall on on Monday or Tuesday, service will be provided the Saturday BEFORE.
For holidays falling on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, service will be provided the following Saturday.   321-952-3420

Planet Fitness in Palm Bay is the one I go to.  It’s at 160 Malabar Road, Palm Bay, FL 32907 Phone: 321.327.2970
Open 24 Hours Monday through Friday.
Open Monday at 5:00 AM until Friday at 9:00 PM
Saturday and Sunday 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Holiday Hours:
Wednesday, December 24 – close at 3 pm
Thursday, December 25 CLOSED
Friday, December 26 – Re-open at 5 am
Wednesday, December 31 – close at 3 pm
Thursday, January 1 – Re-open at 5 am

Be happy your body is disintegrating because that just means something even better is on it’s way . And if not, maybe the being happy will prevent the disintegration and reverse aging altogether. Who’s to say! In any event, why not just be happy and see what happens next?  Claire Lavell

I love how the Universe arranges things.  I made a post on Facebook yesterday and last night had a reading with someone in a similar situation.  Since it was such a learning moment, I share it here.  I wrote “To the friend of a friend who will not pay rent and will not move out and is smack talking the landlord on Facebook with every other post, feel blessed that you are doing it to someone who has sympathy for your situation even though you consistently take advantage of them. You do not want the Karma of that. Pay people back what you owe. Cut the cord and you will be greatly rewarded.   The tenant is refusing to pay months of back rent, storage and utilities. It would cost the landlord time and money to evict her, neither of which she has. The landlord works 2 jobs and also cares for her elderly parents. Landlord is praying for tenant to do the right thing and be happily gone by end of January. Personally, I would not let someone live in my home, but the landlord is an extremely kind and generous type. Bless them both.”   A few months ago, a friend wrote about something similar, so  I asked her “whatever happened in your situation a few months ago?”  It turned into a good practice session about changing thoughts.  Continue reading →

I love being up in the middle of the night. For 20 years, I’ve done phone sessions most evenings from 9:00pm until 3:00am. It’s a most fulfilling work but because of the hours, I’m seldom available for evening events. I even miss most of the bf’s music gigs.  Even on nights I have free, my body clock has me horizontal from 4:00pm until 9:00pm. This schedule works well for me, as I do magazine work during the day then nap before evening appointments. As far as my circadian rhythm is concerned, my 4:00pm is like your midnight.   But in the midnight hours is when my work is done best. After my day job of publishing Horizons Magazine, I nap and then awaken to do yoga and meditate, preparing my mind for evening appointments. My mental environment softens and I become more right brained. I stop analyzing, I stop calculating, I begin getting into a receptive, receiving mode. My wind up and wind down time is important to me, since my work has me traveling between two very different worlds. My daily world has me rearranging words and dollars and keeping track of it all. My nightly world is one of watchfulness, it has me intuiting and coaxing spirit. It has me being alert and receptive to whatever form guidance might take so I recognize it when I encounter it.    Continue reading →

I got up early Friday to get ready for delivery of the January magazine. I brewed coffee and made it half caffeine to wake me up. I drink it so seldom, it wired me for the entire day! The day began with me feeling lazy so I took my time getting going. Then I felt rushed like I wouldn’t get to everywhere I had to be, but within two hours I was in the flow. Today I was reminded to always be prepared. I was going to drop cds off to a client, so I tossed them all in the car and drove off to run errands. I was glad to have ALL the cds with me because I called to confirm the address on the way and was asked if I had time for a reading as well. Long story short, she had a group of ladies over for lunch and I spent the afternoon doing readings and sold 19 cds. Email me at horizonsmagazine@gmail.com to buy the cd for $20  Since I hadn’t planned on it, I was dressed a little too casual for the “party” with a black sweater, jeans and sneakers but I had a silk scarf in the car and my snazzy black sandals. Presto, chango. It was an unexpectedly fun and productive day. And best of all? My holiday vacation time begins now!

This morning’s soup is what I call my Magical Healing Broth:
Into 16 oz of low sodium chicken broth, drop a thumbsized piece of ginger sliced thin (will remove later), one stalk of lemongrass chopped into one inch pieces (will remove later), 2 keffir lime leaves chopped and a tsp of tamarind paste. Heat to a rolling simmer for 20 minutes, then drain the liquid into another pot to remove all the sticks and grasses.  It’s just the broth you’re making here. After straining you can add veggies and carcass.
Before serving, add:
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 capful rice wine vinegar
1 capful low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp chili garlic sauce

A pinch of sugar if it’s too sour.

Steven Farmer has written a book called Healing Ancestral Karma: Free Yourself from Unhealthy Family Patterns. I freed myself from an unhealthy family pattern by purposely not having children. I was/am too selfish in wanting freedom from restriction and commitment and I knew having kids would be a lifetime of just that. In return, I’ve been blessed with the freedom to have quiet, deep reflection on our family dynamics and come to great understanding of the karmic ties and implications. The week in 2002 after I had a big aha about my brother Jerry who had passed when I was 16, he contacted me after 37 years of me believing he was dead. I believe me coming to an understanding helped free family karma and that’s why Jerry reappeared.  I wrote about it here http://horizonsmagazine.com/blog/?p=1704