Five things about me . . .

This is me when I was a very young baby.   My mom looks tired.   So does my dad.  I was a screamer.  I had colic.   I am so glad that I never had a baby with colic.  Are you ready for another five things about me post?   Here it comes!



I started smoking when I was 17 and quit when I was 34.  Quitting smoking was the most difficult thing I ever had to do.  I had tried many many times before I was finally successful.   My parents both smoked when I was very small, but my father quit when I was about five or six years old.  I don't remember him smoking.   It was not until after I had quit smoking for about six months that I realized how bad it really smelled.   I had never been smokeless in my life, having grown up in a smokers home, and started young myself.  The thought that for the first 34 years of my life I was either breathing in second hand smoke, or smoking myself scares me.  I try not to think about it.  Quitting was one of the best things I ever did for myself and I am so glad that I was finally able to conquer it.  I say I have no will power, but I must have some to have done that!



I have the spirit of an adventurer.  Were it not so I would never have taken the huge step of joining the church I belong to against all odds.   I would never have taken the bold step of coming over here on my own to meet Todd in the first place.  I would never have been able to leave the country of my birth to take up residence in a new land either had I not been willing to take a chance.   When I think back on my life, although I did not know it at the time, I have always been a bit of an adventurer and a lover of challenge and new things!  This spirit of adventure helped me through my years as an army wife also.  We were always on the move it seemed.  I have always loved seeing new places and meeting new people.



I have always loved to cook and to eat.   I used to love watching my mother cook.  She was not one to let you help.  You could watch if you stayed out of her way.   Later on when she started to work outside the home full time, and I had had a few lessons in Home Ec, I was allowed to start supper nights.  I loved doing that.   That is the one chore I never minded.  I used to love watching food shows on the telly.  There were not a lot of them like there are today.   Madame Jehane Benoit had one and a spot on a program called Take Thirty.  I remember scribbling down the ingredients once of an apple dish she was making and then making it myself later on. It was delicious.   I think she was the first celebrity cook to inspire me.  She was my Julia Child.  My first mother in law was an excellent cook.  She was a farm wife and could make a feast out of next to nothing.   She was also an inspiration to me.  I don't think I was the most knowledgeable cook when I first got married, but I was a good cook and that is a skill I have developed and honed through the years, mostly because I was passionate about it.



I love sun flowers.   I think they are amazing.  I love their sunny bright colours.  I love how they follow the sun through the day, turning with it as it travels across the sky.  I would love to have a sunflower garden.  We did plant some this year, but most did not come up.  The ones that did  have yet to bloom.  I am still waiting for their splendor!  I think Sunflowers make the nicest floral arrangements, the dwarf ones at any rate.  My ex boss used to make beautiful floral arrangements with sunflowers for her "casual" get-togethers.



I adore the flavour of lemons.  Lemon anything is my favourite thing.  I love lemon cookies and lemon cakes.  I love lemon yoghurt, lemon pies.  Lemon candies.  Lemonade.  I always have a bowl of lemons in the house.  I love looking at them. Using them.  Smelling them.  Holding them.   In the shops I have been known to go through the whole barrel of lemons looking for the perfect ones to buy.  Thin skinned and heavy, not too hard and not too soft.   Smelling beautifully lemony.  The thick skinned ones that are light weight may look prettier, but they are not the best lemons and are often quite dry.  You want a nice heavy-in-weight, thin skinned one if you want the best one.  That's my tip for the day!  I would love to have my very own lemon tree.

And that's my five new things about me for this week.  It's cuddle time for Mitzie now.

A thought to carry with you through today . . .

✿*´¨)
* ¸.•*¸.• ✿´¨).• ✿¨)
(¸.•´*(¸.•´*(.¸. •* "Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God's approval."
~Thomas S Monson  * ¸.•*¸.• ✿´¨).• ✿¨)  

 

Cooking in The English Kitchen today . . . a delicious salad with nice Mediterranean flavours.   Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes.  So tasty!


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Happy Thursday!