Low-Stress Diet for Women

During this stressful transition in my life, a friend sent me the following terrific low-stress diet for women that I want to share with my blog readers. This should get me through until we move next week.

This is a specially formulated diet designed to help women cope with the stress that builds during the day.

Breakfast
1 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast
1 cup skim milk

Lunch
1 small portion lean, steamed chicken
1 cup spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Hershey's kiss

Afternoon Snack
The rest of the Hershey kisses in the bag
1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream with chocolate chips

Dinner
4 glasses of wine (red or white)
2 loaves garlic bread
1 family size supreme pizza
3 Snickers Bars

Late Night Snack
1 whole Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)

Remember: Stressed spelled backward is desserts.

Land of Boxes

I am surrounded by towers of boxes. My walls are blank. The definitive moving moment occurred last night when Ron asked me if we had any empty sprayer bottles and I had to admit that I had packed them. Until a week from Monday, when we begin unpacking, there will be no more waffle iron, access to the CD collection, spray starch, or baby pictures. Forgive me faithful readers if I disappear for a bit. I’m making one of the biggest transitions of my life and it is full of details. I walk my land here on this 40 acres and wonder at how much my fruit trees and grape vines have grown over the years, how abundant the clematis has become, how much the deck has deteriorated under years of footsteps, friends, music, and laughter. The new owners will be taking the deck out and replacing it first thing. I am still dazzled by the beauty of the early morning light or the evening gold in the forest that surrounds this house. I would have been dazzled by it forever if I stayed. Fortunately I have several enormous, really enormous, old live oak trees at my new home. I fell in love with the Ranch because of the trees and I knew the Villa would be the right move at this time because of the trees. One day I suppose I will buy a house for the house. Until then, I choose my homes for the trees. So many extraordinary trees, so little time. Meet me back here on the blog after June 16^th. I’ll email you a reminder.

Plumbing Hero

Last Monday night we returned home after attending my daughter’s graduation ceremony to discover that our kitchen plumbing under the sink was leaking. It was more than a one bucket leak. I thought I’d have to shut the water off for the night. But my husband Ron demonstrated what separates the men from the boys. He had just crawled into bed to read the paper at 9:00, exhausted and suffering from an ear ache, when I reluctantly informed him that we had a plumbing issue. I cleared everything out from under the sink and laid down clean towels. Ron handed me the fluorescent hurricane lantern and instructed, “Cover me, I’m going in.” After some head scratching and chin rubbing, Ron announced, “I think I have the right parts to fix this.” For once in my life I was grateful to be married to a pack rat, who squirrels away parts and pieces, tools and materials, nuts and bolts, enough to build a rocket ship in the basement if it becomes necessary for us to evacuate the planet on a moment’s notice. In less than an hour he replaced the defective parts and we had a dry kitchen. My plumbing hero! I won’t discuss his just rewards received for working magic under the sink since this is a family blog.