Sheilaclapkin's Blog;

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I’m in here somewhere, Mr. McHugh among the pills, the pain, and the self-pity. You mentioned that I had not blogged since the beginning of the year and he came to check out the heap of bones still sputtering with the resemblance of a past life of working in unison with all parts having their assigned place and proper movement status.

Now the well-tracked bones have skipped off track, fractured and are looking to be cement and or restrung. You think she is spouting nonsense, but I assure you not at all.

I am suffering from vertebral stress fractures of the back due to Osteoporosis and the pain has been horrific. Take your calcium supplements and don’t be a know-it-all like me. Not me I am fine, but I am not.   I am paying the price and worried about how long this will continue.

In the meantime let us get on with blogging. Thank you all for asking that I return. I have to climb the stairs to get to the computer a built in exercise perk.

I just received this note from a student from years ago. How lucky I am to read these words. What powerful healing medicine.

Dear Remembered Teacher.

You may not remember me but you were my fourth grade (1997) teacher at Calvert Elementary. I came across your Facebook page and thought I would say hello. I am now one semester away from graduating college and of all the teachers/professors I have had, you are one of the most memorable.

I remember making polyhedrons, dream catchers, Indian rain dances, pancakes but mostly I remember reading. We read so many books for a fourth grade class and its sad to say, I don’t remember reading more than five or six as a class until I got to college. I truly enjoyed my time in your class and have always remembered it as “the class that read over 20 books and learned about the birds and the bees.” I hope all is well.

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When I was in Kindergarten the teacher used to play the piano and we would sing her repertoire of songs. It was a pleasant time of day when the music surrounded us and our voices rang out with joy. I looked forward to hearing the joining of piano and voices. That joy would not last long enough for me to paste it in the indelible file. I must admit that I was a curious child and always talking and squirreling around. I’d make noises trying to sing along. Being tone deaf is offensive to those who have perfect pitch.

One day the teacher was again miffed with me for something or other. She shook her whole body and then made a lunge for me. My big bow ripped at my hair and my teeth bit my tongue. She shoved me in the little space behind the piano and the wall. She began to bang out my favorite song, Auld Lang Syne. When I say bang out, I mean a hard, loud hammering and a shattering sound effect was created as she pressed her tiny feet on the pedals and her fingers on the keys. That was the most beautiful song and I loved to hear and sing it, but now it has become loud smashing, devastating sounds ever since my stay behind the piano and between the wall scenarios. The space behind the piano and the wall, in my mind has become a personal prison. Some things we never forget and some things continue to effect us in various ways for all of our conscious lives.

With all of that said, sing and be happy. Why not?

Stop comparing yourself to others. This is generally a source of much unhappiness. Become aware of choosing negative thoughts and change them to positive affirmations. Okay, how does one achieve turning negative into positive. The key: Start to recognize positive side of thinking vs. negative thinking. You are there! Congratulations. In recognition there is grand achievement.

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There is something to be said about starting a new day. You know how you sometimes spend hours planning in the dead of night what you will take on into the new day of tasks not completed in the day passed. I say start today with fragments of yesterday. They keep you glued together and slip into cracks you cannot otherwise fill. All is well and good, but if you do not need to take yesterday, don’t. Baggage is baggage on any given day. Baggage will get in your way. It will slow you down and cause you to drown in the past, which actually is unknown in the future. Tomorrow is the future. You can’t live in it until it comes, so do not dwell too long getting there. Perhaps pack a few fragments on which to build, or not. Just bringing it to mind.

You say how can you live in the future? You can’t, but you can clean up as much of today as possible and let the new dawn begin as much anew as possible. Think new day, new opportunities, fresh start filled with the freedom, plus the power to choose new possible strengths, advantages, and new prospects to heal yourself of past hurts and regrets.

I am the kind of person who takes bits and pieces of other days along with me in case I need to mend together the new day. Adding some of yesterday seems to add strength. So, perhaps, do not be too strict with yourself and carry just a pocket full of the past to sprinkle and share in the future. Power is knowledge, so keep your facts, data, and wisdom near by.

I write to help myself.

Fancy meals evolve from our out to dinner take home boxes. I doubt whether I would be able to come up with a tasty meal without the spices as well as gentle flavorings of our take home leftovers. When you doubt something, or shall I say when I doubt something, I try to prove myself right and if by chance I learn from the encounter, all the better.

Oh no, I have a refrigerator full of food and shall try to mix and match the ingredients from a number of days of collecting bits of leftover foods. So here we go to making a meal of mix and match.

First I grab the ingredients for a soup. The soup was going to be a medium to small size, but low and behold it became a bigger and bigger pot. This is a yummy sweet soup with a giant satisfying flavor.

Next a little side dish of old fruit that was going to perish if not cooked immediately. Cooked fruit is a delight as a side dish with a dollop of ice cream, yogurt, or sour cream on top.

Next is left over Pad Thai noodles and certainly enough for guests, so guests are invited. Added to the mix warming in an extra large frying pan are the noodles, parsley (fresh), extra seasonings, a tad of leftover rice cooked with onions, added curry seasonings, and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and finally add chopped up chicken from take out. Cover frying pan and cook until ingredients are cooked through and through. Then crack six whole eggs in order to decorate mixture with whole eggs all around the pan. Cover and cook until yolks have turned white. Add a little sprinkle of seasoned salt.

I know, where’s the bread? I have leftover bread and cookies from a Hawaiian Restaurant. I mixed biscuit flour, hammered a few leftover cookies, and the bread into a bowl, added Almond milk to desired thickness. Sweet dinner muffins popped out of the oven. Our guest had arrived, and were sipping wine and spreading cheese. The cheese leftover from over a week ago was still bright and cheerful looking.

Leftover Dinner Delight: Menu.

Wine

Cheese and Crackers

A yummy stew like soup is used as a starter

Cup of cooked fruit topped with Vanilla yogurt. The cup is made out of a small cabbage bowl. Looks lovely and is very filling.

RE-developed Pad Thai Noodles with Eggs and Chopped Chicken

Sweet Dinner Muffins

Coffee

The meal for me was gratifying in the fact that leftovers can make such joyous eating, plus fulfill a nourishing need, and to have created a pleasing meal from leftovers.