{"id":17778,"date":"2011-12-27T09:45:42","date_gmt":"2011-12-27T14:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=17778"},"modified":"2011-12-27T09:47:44","modified_gmt":"2011-12-27T14:47:44","slug":"a-restful-few-days-after-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/a-restful-few-days-after-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"A restful few days after Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"My across the street neighbor has been driving out early each day and when he’s gone, I open my office window and blinds and let the morning sun stream onto my desk. This is the window that if I have the lights on at night and the blinds open, it is like I am on a tv screen for everyone on the street to see. \u00a0In the daytime, I have more privacy though, since the eleagnus bush at the street line hides me. \u00a0You literally have to stand at a certain spot on the driveway or in the yard to see into my office window and you have to know where to look. \u00a0So when the neighbor drives out for his early errands, I open my blinds all up and feel like I have a giant picture window onto my street as the sun comes over the treeline.<\/p>\n

It drizzled all evening and off and on all night, so everything is all glistening and sparklee. \u00a0 It always looks so magical here, every morning. \u00a0It’s \u00a0about 65 degrees, about 80% humidity, it’s clear and sunny, skies are blue. \u00a0The yard is loving the rain, all the foliage looks lush and tropical. \u00a0It certainly doesn’t feel like any Christmas I remember. \u00a0The last two months of the year I have to do the magazines back to back with no time off in between, since I lose a week of print time during Thanksgiving week and Christmas week. \u00a0It’s only after the January magazine is in my hands, usually the week before Christmas, that I can relax for a couple of weeks. \u00a0This year I’m making the most of it! \u00a0I mean, I have to stay in town for other reasons and do some computer and phone work each day, but it’s very much like vacation time for me.<\/p>\n

This is usually the time I catch up on sleep, as well, since I am very prone to getting off my sleep schedule<\/a>. \u00a0Usually the weather is cooler, and I spend the time off hacking new trails through the woods and palmettos<\/a>, and clearing the undergrowth. \u00a0I could do that now, the weather is certainly nice enough, except it’s warm enough that the misquitoes are still here. \u00a0When working with misquitoes, I either spray stuff on me or wear long sleeved everything. \u00a0In the palmettos, long sleeves and long pants are a pain since they snag every few minutes. \u00a0 I don’t mind being bare armed and getting cut, but when I sweat, the misquito repellent comes right off and I’m stung anyway. \u00a0I let it be such a hassle that it’s easier to wait until the first nice cold spell to work on the trails. \u00a0Note: if you work in the garden and have cuts that don’t heal as quickly as they used to, begin taking 4,000 vitamin D3 a day<\/a> to boost your immune system, and using virgin organic coconut oil<\/a> on your skin, your arms and legs especially. \u00a0It will go on greasy and be absorbed in within minutes, it’s antiviral, antibacterial. \u00a0Wash your hands. Caveat:\u00a0If it’s not virgin and organic, it will stay greasy on you.<\/p>\n

So, instead of spending time hacking new trails in my woods, I’m spending my time creating a little workout space inside. \u00a0I want a place set up to do a decent routine on days I don’t get to the gym. \u00a0It’s just weights and mats in front of a mirror but that’s all I need. \u00a0I wrote about my quick routine here.<\/a> I like the camaraderie of the gym, and I like the treadmill and the variety of machines, but often my end of day is 2:00-3:00am and that’s the perfect time to relax myself through strength training. \u00a0If \u00a0I keep a space set up, it’s easy to step into the space and begin doing it. \u00a0So far, it’s been fun and a welcome addition to my daily yoga. \u00a0I can feel myself getting stronger, like when I got the five gallon water \u00a0bottles refilled and they were super easy to carry in. \u00a0I had no idea rebuilding muscle could be so easy and happen so fast.<\/p>\n

First thing this morning I went to the gym and walked the treadmill, and stopped by Walmart on the way home. \u00a0It was still dark but not far from sunrise, and I put my chicken, my broccoli and my bottle of white pinot grigio on the counter. \u00a0 I’ve been playing with a new lowfat chicken in wine sauce recipe<\/a> The cashier told me she couldn’t sell me wine before 7:00am, there was no alcohol sold between midnight and 7:00am. \u00a0 \u00a0I forgot there were laws about stuff like that.<\/p>\n

I thought, what a cool rule that is! \u00a0However, I wanted to do my recipe but didn’t want to wait 15 minutes until I could buy the wine. \u00a0I paid for the chicken and broccoli and sat a moment in my car with new cell phone and checked email. \u00a0I realized I could walk through the store and read email and the 15 minutes would fly by in no time. \u00a0So that’s what I did. \u00a0 I went inside, asked the cashier to hang on to the wine that I’d be back for it. \u00a0Then I\u00a0walked up and down the aisles reading my email.<\/p>\n

At 7:02am I wander back to her register and step into the line, \u00a0with a couple behind me and a man ahead of me. \u00a0She notes the time and nods, and smiles conspiratorially. \u00a0She rather surrepitiously slips the bottle from the cart behind her to the plastic bag, and then double bags it! \u00a0I told her, “I don’t need a bag,” and she looks a little horrified and almost imperceptibly shakes her head like, “no, don’t carry a bottle of wine out of here at 7:00am what will people think?.” Um, they’d think I was making chicken and broccoli with wine sauce if you let me buy it 15 minutes ago with the rest of the dinner… <\/em><\/p>\n

Anyway, she hands me the double bagged bottle and gives me a sly wink. \u00a0At this point, I can only assume she’s a raging alcoholic who thinks she enabling me to have my early morning fix. \u00a0I simply smile and say thank you and walk to my car. \u00a0I wasn’t sure what all that was about. \u00a0I kinda of wondered what it all looked like to the couple behind me LOL clearly we were in cahoots about something, using some secret language.<\/p>\n

So this morning will be spent cooking yet another version, with fresh mushrooms this time. \u00a0I’ve learned to cook small batches at a time, just a mini meal’s worth. \u00a0I much prefer that to having large pots of food in the fridge that I feel obligated to eat long after I’ve lost the taste for whatever I cooked too much of. \u00a0Now I may spend 2 hours preparing a meal that is simply 2 cups of \u00a0soup and a small entree and salad. \u00a0The pleasure is in the journey also, in the planning and preparation, and I like to clean as I work and I enjoy that part of \u00a0it also. \u00a0Now that I think of it, today may just turn out to be cook and clean day, with some breaks for working out here and maybe a treadmill run about sunset. \u00a0We’ll see. \u00a0At this point, that’s all I’m willing to commit to.<\/p>\n

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