Tortureous Eating

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Daily Prompt:  Spicy

I am not a fan of spicy food.  Or I should say, of hot spicy food  I have always equated spicy with hot but I guess that’s not accurate.  I use many spices when I cook, but hot tasting spices I stay away from.

It is inconceivable to me why anyone would want to suffer while eating.  I associate eating with pleasure, not pain.  I guess that for those of you who love to indulge on a tear producing hot dish, you find it pleasurable.

I can remember when my son was a little boy.  Maybe 4 or so.  We went took the kids to Disney World.  He kept seeing the signs along the highway for Popeye’s Chicken.  Finally, after listening to him say he wanted to eat at Popeye’s we gave in.  He said that the chicken was a little hot, but he liked it.  Personally, it was too much for my tender GI tract and my youngest wouldn’t even try it.  After our lunch, we proceeded to the park where we had a delightful day.  It was the next morning when the full effects of Popeye’s Chicken were felt.  My poor little boy was sitting on the commode crying as the spicy chicken made its way out of his little body.  Needless to say, he never wanted Popeye’s Chicken again.

I don’t get it.  My husband used to tell me that when he was young and his dad worked evening shift on weekends he would stay up until he got home and eat hot peppers with him.  He loved how they tasted going in,  but hated how it felt in when they exited. But he kept eating them.

Maybe I have done my family a disservice by not cooking hot spicy food.  I may have denied them the experience of international cuisine.  If so I apologize.  Somehow it goes against my maternal instinct to cause pain while eating.

You will never find hot spices on the spice carousel in my kitchen.  My recipes don’t include things like Cayenne Pepper or Extra Hot Cajun Seasoning.  Just thinking about these things gets the acid churning in my stomach.  For those of you who enjoy these dietary tortures enjoy.

Wanda

 

Dottie

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Daily Prompt:  Amble

I spent the day yesterday with my friend Dottie, her son Brandon and her granddaughter Alissa ambling through Animal Kindom at Disney World here in Orlando, Florida.  We had a wonderful time.  I love to see all of the animals that are in the park as well as going on the rides.  The new ride in Pandora is unbelievable.  That’s all I will say on the matter because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who has not ridden on it yet.  I am always so impressed with the technology and ingenuity that Disney puts into their attractions.

Did I mention that my friend Dottie is retiring from Disney, Animal Kingdom to be specific, on Wednesday?  So over the years, every trip to the park with her is always filled with many introductions to other cast members on the job.  Whoever she takes to the park is privy to an extraordinary wealth of knowledge about the animals and the trivia related to Animal Kindom.  Her shimmering love for both the animals and her career is evident by her desire to enhance your visit with these nuances.

Dottie has never been one to take her responsibilities at work casually.  Even in her first career with Western Electric.  She has always had a very strong work ethic.  Dottie has always been a teacher of sorts in the form of training in both of her careers.

We have been friends since our junior year in high school.  Almost fifty years!  I can remember thinking that I would be ancient when I was fifty.  Now, I just feel blessed to have had a wonderful friend for that long.  We were in each other’s weddings.  She is godmother to my daughter and Aunt Dottie to all of my children.  We were partners in crime (as Mom would say) in our teens. She called my mom and dad, Mom and Dad and I called her mom Mom.  Our friendship has weathered enormous joy, great loss, sadness, happiness and separation of time and distance.  And now I will share with her a new chapter in her life.  Retirement.  Anyone who has retired after working since their teens knows that although we work toward retirement, and for retirement and want retirement, it is a difficult transition.  So I will have the honor of celebrating this special day with Dottie, her husband Frank and her Disney family on Wednesday by attending her retirement party.

As we left the park last night, to the symphony of screams and laughter I looked at Dottie smiling, tired from the day, but happy she had shared her home of the last 19 years with us.    It was the last time she would be hosting family and friends as a cast member at Disney.  Who ever takes her place in the park will have so very much to live up to.

I love you, Dottie.  Happy Retirement.

Wanda

 

Catching Up

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I just want to say thank you to everyone who visits my blog and comments.  I have been tied up much of this week and have not gotten to visit my friends of the blogosphere.   Things will calm down for me after the weekend and I will come around to visit your wonderful blogs. Dottie’s son is will be here sometime today and tomorrow we’ll be going to Animal Kingdom in Disney for the day.  I can’t wait.

This morning Gracie and I walked over 2 miles.  She’s now sitting by me in the dining room as I post this.  I think I wore her out.  Here is Gracie.

Gracie

Gracie and Frank are napping.  I wore both of them out.  Gracie by walking so far this morning and Frank by looking for his charging cable for the hand push lawn mower.  They are both napping now.  :).

GracieSleeping

Have a blessed day everyone.

Wanda

 

The Big Game

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Three Line Tales, Week 79

 

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photo by Arnaud Mesureur via Unsplash

 

We were pulling up to the stadium and I saw all of the lights on the outside of the building.  I was so excited to be seeing my first pro basketball game…I hope my team wins tonight I said to my dad.   As we walked into the stadium the crowd was large and the noise was so loud I was afraid the game had started already…but it was just warm ups, then finally I heard the announcer begin to announce the players…cheers erupted before I knew it the buzzer sounded and play began.

Wanda

 

Friendly Fill-Ins Week 65

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Friendly Fill-Ins Week 65, August 4, 2017

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1. Meetings are a necessary evil.  It’s the price you pay for belonging to an organized society.

2. Rules are necessary but fun to break sometimes.  🙂

3. The best time to take photographs is either early in the day or later in the day, or late in the day.  I didn’t know that until I joined the camera club in my area.  Maybe that’s why my photos are better than they used to be. 

4. I have learned that there are things I just have to accept no matter how much I don’t want to.  I have adopted the philosophy, not my monkey’s not my circus. 

Wanda

 

 

The Weekly Smile 83

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Weekly Smile 83

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This is what made me smile this week.  I spent the day with my friends at Sea World in Orlando on Monday.  I had such a good time.  I love to go to parks like this.  It gives my inner child a chance to come out and play.

I rode the roller coasters and did a little shopping and took a ton of photos.

The shows were wonderful and I am just so impressed with the rescue work that Sea World does.  So many of the animals they have in the shows are rescues.

I’ll be smiling about this day for a long time.  🙂

Wanda

Foggy Brain

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Daily Prompt:  Foggy

Twelve years ago I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues.  It is believed that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes pain signals.

Symptoms sometimes begin after a physical trauma, surgery, infection or significant psychological stress. In other cases, symptoms gradually accumulate over time with no single triggering event.  My symptoms began after I had an injury.

Women are more likely to develop fibromyalgia than are men. Many people who have fibromyalgia also have tension headaches, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety and depression.

There is no cure for it.  It is something that won’t kill me, but it sure can make me miserable.  I have pain every day, but the real frustrating thing for me is the fibro fog which affects my memory.  Sometimes while I am talking I just lose what I am saying.  It drives me crazy.

I have found changing my diet to a paleo one has helped alleviate the pain a bit which in itself is reason enough to stick to eating the paleo way.  I do have to take medications which keep it manageable.  Weather also affects my symptoms.

At my age I have the luxury of picking and choosing what is worth aggravating my symptoms and increasing the pain, and I can tell you that cleaning my house is low on the list.  🙂  My hobbies come before any housework and spending time with my family, especially my grandchildren, comes before them.  I feel that if I am going to hurt, I want it to be over something I love doing, not something that isn’t fun.

Take yesterday for instance.  Dottie, Frank and I spent the day at Sea World in Orlando. We met her ex-brother in law who had his grandchildren with him.  They are the cutest kids.  John 13 and Julia 9.  It rained most of the day, but we walked all over the park. Julia wanted to sit down close when we saw the Shamu show.  I sat right down there with her and we go soaked.  We laughed so hard.  I rode the roller coasters with them and we petted the rays together.  We got back to the house around 8 o’clock last night and I can tell you I was exhausted and I was hurting.  But I was also happy and excited about how I spent the day.

That’s the thing about fibro.  You can’t give into it.  You have to keep moving and doing what you enjoy.  Like I said it’s not a condition that will end my life, so I don’t intend to let it dictate what I can do either.

Wanda