New Year's Day In The Fajita

Many people eat black-eyed peas on New Year's day because they are thought to bring good luck throughout the year. This year, however, I didn't follow the crowd.



On December 30th (Friday) I stayed up all night long working on my blog, tweeting on Twitter, posting on Facebook, cleaning the files on my computer, updating programs on my computer and researching future posts. My nickname could be Professional Night Owl especially since I am extremely productive when the moon rises in the sky. There's something so peaceful when everything gets really quiet.

When Alyssa spends the night with a friend, I realize how very different my life is fast becoming. I have been a mommy for so long and my life has revolved around making sure she either learned something, was taken to some event, completed her homework, cleaned her room, was fed three square meals on time, got to school safely, went to the doctor for checkups and the list just goes on and on and on. What that means is that I didn't really have much time to just think about me.

With the nights and weekends totally open to do whatever I want to do, when I want to do things and how I want to do them, it is somewhat mind-boggling. It is true that I sit at the computer a huge portion of my free time, but writing has always been my passion.



I have digressed which proves I'm a woman. (wink)

Since I stayed up all night long on December 30th, by the time 9:00 p.m. December 31st rolled around I was feeling rather punchy. The excitement of the new year fast approaching with thoughts of a future filled with new opportunities, kept me wide awake.

The new year rolled in and when the clock read 3:00 a.m., I was finally tired and very happy. That is why I didn't wake up until very late on January 1st and also why I ate breakfast/lunch at 3:00 p.m.



I guess you are probably wondering what the delicious fajita is filled with in the photos. Well, when I walked into the kitchen, I wanted something healthy and lightly filling to eat. I do not eat so much that I have a very full stomach that weighs down my energy. By not overeating, it also helps with not worrying about gaining weight. There is also a little voice in my head that reminds me of my goal: I want 6 pack abs at least once in my lifetime!

My mother and daughter will gross out when I tell you that the fajita was filled with an omelet that I created. It looks and sounds good so far doesn't it? Let me tell you what I put in it:

• eggs
• spices
• caramelized diced onions
• caramelized diced celery
• salt
• pepper
• bacon
• cheddar cheese
• colby cheese
• and a shredded tuna steak
• fresh cherries on the side (I love bright food on the side)
  

That last fajita ingredient (tuna) is what made Mom and Alyssa just turn their nose up in disgust. However, I didn't inflict this meal on anyone. Since Alyssa spent December 30 - 31 with her girlfriends, I was free to cook and eat whatever I wanted to cook and eat! I keep reminding myself that this is one of the advantages of having Alyssa grown.

Yeah, I know, baby steps and one thing at a time. It is really hard to jump to cooking just for one. All I can say is thank goodness there is something called a "refrigerator" in my kitchen.

So I spent a very quiet two days without Alyssa as I rang in 2012. I also didn't eat black eyed peas, but I'm sure that this year will be much better than the last two years. Want to know the best part of all? I'm actually looking forward to the next 364 days because I think my life is just going to keep getting better and better.

Did everyone eat black eyed peas or was there someone else adventurous like the mixture of ingredients in my fajita?

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The Redhead Riter And Santa Claus

I have always been The Redhead Riter because I have always been a redhead and loved to write. However, I used to be a child long before I started this blog.

As a child, I loved going to visit Santa Claus and having my picture taken with him. I still love to go visit Santa and it is one of the few times that I am excited about looking into the camera!

(click, click)

I thought I would show you some of my visits to the big guy in red.




My sister, Audrey, did not like Santa Claus
and it was the same scene for many years when we visited him.
I remember thinking,
"She is messing up the picture!
What a baby!"
Well, looking at the photograph now,
I am just laughing my head off.
Isn't Audrey just so adorable!
Of course, I'm laughing even harder at myself
because it looks like the curls on my head
have a mind of their own
and are going all which-a-way.
Really Mom,
couldn't you have tamed them just a little bit?

(click, click)




No matter which Santa Claus we visited or
if I sat on his lap at the same time or not,
Audrey hated him and would scream her head off.

(click, click)




Eventually, Audrey decided that sitting on Santa's lap wasn't so bad after all.
I think that is because of the candy cane he passed us
after they took the picture.
She still didn't like Santa
and obviously, refused to smile and fake it.
I loved Santa!!!
He always asked me what I wanted for Christmas
and I would say,
"A new doll."
Every year my wish came true.
Who wouldn't like a man that made your wishes come true?
I think I want my own Santa Claus!

(click, click)




I firmly believe that the whole reason I love when men's hair
starts turning white is because of Santa.
He spoiled me!
Santa wasn't demanding,
wasn't mean,
gave me candy
and left me whatever I asked for under the tree at Christmas.

(click, click)




I knew then that Santa Claus just adored me.
I was just as cute at six years old as I was at two years old.
I see all those freckles across my nose and
I can't help that I think redheaded children are too cute.
Besides, I know what Santa was thinking too.

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Elegant Evening iPhone Photos And Delicious Food

Let me start by saying that Brittany, my niece, got a new iPhone and I used it to take all the pictures in this post. I also took about fifty others that aren't in this post. I fell in love with her phone.

Okay, nobody faint! I know that I usually keep a cell phone until it is ready to be donated to the Smithsonian, but this phone really impressed me and it was fun to use. I seriously didn't want to give the phone back to Brittany!

What was the occasion that had me snapping so many photos?

My family did something a little bit different this year...

On Christmas Eve we all met at my mother's house to eat, open gifts and enjoy each other's company.

My mother is a very elegant woman and her home reflects her personality. Everything was decked out to the nines when we arrived. Of course, I was late which seems to be the norm. I feel bad for Alyssa because she is always ready an hour ahead of time and I'm the one that makes her late. The other redhead in the family, my niece, is also late all the time. Maybe it is just a redhead thing or we both have the same mutated late gene. I was just glad that she got there after we did. (smile)

Anyway, I love the feeling of Mom's home. It is clean, uncluttered, smells nice, looks elegant and very welcoming.





Mom was so excited to have us all come over and had spent many hours cooking in preparation for our visit. It was quite evident that she wanted everything perfect. I love her so much for loving us all so much.

Really, who wouldn't feel special dining with gold flatware, china and crystal? I should add...especially since Mom knows that I break everything I touch.





There was so much food on the table and every little foodie gene in my body leaped with excitement.

Sitting right next to me was the Apple Cake. It tastes as deliciously rich as it looks and was so moist. I was so tempted to start my meal with the cake, but I resisted. My sister, however, did begin with the cake and felt no shame. It was quite comical.

Before you ask, let me answer the question on the tip of your tongue...

No, I have not shared this recipe with you yet, but I will definitely have this one in my cookbook.





The newest addition to Mom's repertoire of recipes is a Waldorf Salad inspired by her husband. I loved it the first time she made it and I think that Mom has definitely perfected the dish now. It is very addictive and hard to stop eating.





My most favorite dish on the whole table was the Blueberry Salad. I daydream about Blueberry Salad. It is so tantalizing to my taste buds. I can assure you that I brought some home with me and ate it for a midnight snack and at breakfast on Christmas morning. Yes, it is that yummy.





The naked ladies and cherubs that hold flower arrangements in Mom's home were also decorated with lights. Personally, I think she should leave the lights on them all year long.





Everything was so beautiful and I felt so much love from my family. It was so nice to sit together again.





As you can tell in the reflection of the mirror, Mom's tree is elegantly gorgeous just like her. I won't confess that I was actually trying to take a picture of myself because as you can tell, the iPhone was covering most of my face and I was looking down. I have this thing with looking down in photos, but you probably haven't noticed that about me (wink).

Since I don't have any pictures proving that I'm more than just a head with a mop of red hair, this photo proves that my body extends at least to the top of my knees. I promise that I do have feet too.





You can laugh now.

I tried really hard to have a great shot of me with Alyssa, but I am very slow with mastering the art of any telephone. I do so much better with a camera that isn't pointed in my direction. However, my petite child pushed the button to take the picture so that I could at least hold her close and have a photo to remember this wonderful evening. Isn't Alyssa so lovely?





Thank you Mom for all your efforts during the evening and thank you everyone else for making it so wonderful. I love you all very much and feel so grateful that I was able to share in the festivities with you.

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Merry Christmas

Memory is a way of
holding onto the things you love,
the things you are,
the things you never want to lose.


I was adorable when I was two years old.

Yes, I love myself as a child. Who can resist a child with a mop of orange-red curls and porcelain white skin?

In my younger years, we would spend Christmas at Mam-Maw and Gran-Gran's house (my mother's parents). They only lived two hours away from our home and it was a trip we took often on the weekends.

I remember being two years old much to the amazement of many people. I remember random things like...the coldness of the metal plate on the door and the roughness of the fabric on the chair.

I was a prissy little girl which you could tell by my little gown, red painted fingernails and the way I opened my gifts with two fingers.

Of course, the VERY young man in the background is my dad. He has been gone for a little over a year now. I guess in many ways I still can't believe that he is gone. While looking at the photograph of him, I can almost smell his Old Spice.

On this particular Christmas I received one of my most favorite gifts of all time - a rocking pony. It took me a while to warm up to it, but once I did, I never wanted to quit riding. The squeaky squeak as I rocked back and forth on the pony just added to my enjoyment.

You know, I can remember kissing the top of the pony's head and how sometimes my nightgown got in the way as I tried to get on the pony to ride.

To look backward for a while
is to refresh the eye,
to restore it,
and to render it the more fit
for its prime function of looking forward.~Margaret Fairless Barber


I hope you all have a wonderful day whether it is spent with family, friends or alone. However you spend it, take a minute to be grateful for all the love you've received during your life. That's what I'm thankful for most of all. I have been loved and still have people who love me. Thank you for all your sweet and encouraging messages and notes to me over the past few years. I won't ever be able to fully express my gratitude for your kindnesses. I hope that God will grant you his choices blessings and that you have a wonderful holiday season.

Yulia Brodskaya

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The Different Christmas

This year will mark my forty-eighth Christmas during which time there have been numberless memories created. In many ways, it is a blur of memories from childhood and motherhood.





As much excitement as it has been receiving gifts, there has been so much more joy in being able to give to those I love...with this year being the exception.

It is strange actually. Alyssa and I have had such a hard and unhappy two years that we don't feel any Christmas spirit at all.

Lights, trees and music have not spurred the usual emotions. Actually, we both feel a bit hollowed out inside.





I had started to feel guilty about it all until last night after Alyssa got home.

As we sat together in our pajamas keeping Bella and the eight-week old pup I have been dog sitting away from each other, the conversation was light and easy. Even without words, we were sharing the same feelings in many ways.





While we both puttered on our computers, I played music. For a long time, I kept clicking different YouTube videos of Michael Bublé - first Christmas music and then his just regular songs. When we had exhausted all the Michael Bublé music at quite an elevated volume, I put on my regular playlist of non-holiday songs which starts out with about ten Kenny G easy flowing saxophone arrangements.

Alyssa thinks his music is beautiful too and so we surfed, chatted and listened.





Well, that's what we did until the silliness set in...

When Ambrosia started singing "How Much I Feel," the mood suddenly changed.

I don't know how this whole business started
Of you thinkin' that I had been untrue
But if you think that we'd be better parted
It's gonna hurt me but I'll break away from you
Well, just give me the sign and I will be gone, yeahh

And that's when Alyssa, the girl with the gorgeous singing voice, started to sing like a crazy girl with a terrible voice...

That's how much I fe-e-e-e-el
Fee-e-e-e-el for you, ba-a-aby

Okay, she totally ruined the song and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Alyssa couldn't keep singing either because she was laughing so hard. My "old" music wasn't cutting the mustard.





While both of us laughed without breathing, I looked at this beautiful young woman and once again, like millions of times before, felt a surge of love and gratefulness that I am her mother. I am the one that has been able to watch her grow and share all these moments of life.

Every minute that I have lived being her mother has been the greatest moments of my life.

Alyssa has made me a better and happier person.





Although we didn't do decorations and all the gifts she wanted probably won't get here before Christmas tomorrow, we have made peace with our lack of emotions.

I don't feel guilty any longer and Alyssa doesn't either.

Instead, I am very grateful that we are both alive to share another holiday together and hopefully the rest of our family will feel the same way.

Tomorrow's festivities and lack of "spirit" will become a blur and a small blip in our memories in comparison to many of those we've experienced in the past, but that's fine. The most important thing of all is that I love Alyssa and my family and they love me back. It doesn't take Christmas, gifts, decorations and lights to make those feelings validated.

This year it will be the love, compassion and shared moments that count.

It will be the breathless moments when I realize that Alyssa is alive and I'm also alive and that we are able to enjoy the day together. That memory and those feelings will always be strong and never blur.

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The Stuffing Made Me Rationalize

Part of me blames it entirely on the beguiling of the stuffing. But if I'm entirely honest, I know that it was my fault. For this post, however, why should I be honest and admit guilt? Let's just blame it on the stuffing. After all, it was a holiday meal and can I really be held responsible for everything that happens at a family gathering with an abundance of food placed at my fingertips?





Want to take a bite of a pickle before we start the story?





My family celebrated Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house which is only about a thirty minute drive for me and twenty minutes for Mom. Terry, my brother-in-law, loves to cook and prepared his mother's recipes for our meal. Thankfully, Terry is a great cook.

That's really true.







There was plenty of food for everyone. We started with the appetizers which included pickles, three different kinds of olives, spicy stuffed celery stalks, pickled beets, peppercinis and pickled okra.

Yum.





Did you know that pickled foods are really good for the body? Pickled foods like those served as appetizers at our family gathering encourage the growth of positive intestinal microbes which promotes efficient digestion. So, those of us who ate all that pickled stuff started our meal in a very healthy way.

I always eat healthily. You really shouldn't believe that four word sentence, but humor me today.





This year, Terry smoked a turkey and the flavor was fantastic.





Since we are all "from the South," a favorite dish at the Thanksgiving table was collard greens which were picked right out of the garden a day earlier.

You don't know anything about collards?

Collards are in the cabbage family and have large, dark-colored, edible leaves. There are many good reasons to eat collards such as they are great sources of vitamin C, soluble fiber and multiple nutrients that have potent anticancer properties.

Alyssa doesn't like collards. I must have done something wrong in my motherhood!

Things would have gone better if I had just eaten double helpings of collards. Keep that thought in the back of your mind while you continue to read.







I usually have small portions of most of the dishes on the table, but often leave off the high carb items since they just convert to sugar. I've been able to control my diabetes with just food and exercise for many years and I want to keep it that way.





This year I had a lot of reasons to be thankful, so I put a little bit of everything on my plate.

(This should scream "foreshadowing" about as loud as a freight train.)





One of the most requested dishes at the holiday table is the stuffing. As you can see, there is plenty for everyone.

The stuffing was placed right in front of me on the table. I don't think anyone else could hear it talking, but it said things like, "You know that you can't resist me the entire meal, so just give in and cut yourself a slice. I promise I won't raise your blood sugar or make a home on your hips and tummy. Besides, it doesn't matter if you go outside your normal diet and cheat a little. A little more carbohydrates won't hurt you. Believe me...you can trust me."

Sounds tempting doesn't it?

Well, that's why I served myself a piece of stuffing. It was just too tempting and why not give into temptation every once and awhile? Besides, the stuffing said that it didn't matter if I cheated on the carbohydrates just a little bit.

Do you remember that story about gullibility that I just told you? Well, this one could be the rationalizing story.





Each bite was just so very delicious. I "stuffed" all thoughts about eating too many carbs into the basement of my mind and locked the door behind me.





Next to the stuffing on my plate was a mushroom-pea-onion crunch dish. I'm sure it was calorie and carbohydrate free too and that is why I heaped a nice serving size on my plate.

I didn't want Terry to think I didn't appreciate all his effort in cooking the meal!

(Like I said, ra-tion-al-i-za-tion.)





A standard at any holiday meal is my mother's candied yams topped with a billion tiny marshmallows. Since it is the only thing my mother cooked and because I was raised on this delectable dish, I couldn't let it pass me by this year either.

I was so helpful with the yams that I watched the dish in the oven to make sure that the marshmallows browned, but didn't burn. I guarantee that I paid very close attention to the brown factor.





The effort was well worth the time. I love yams and I had a very nice sized scoop of them at our Thanksgiving meal.

Yes, this is an obvious sugar addition, but remember what the collards said...."It doesn't matter if I cheat on the carbohydrates just a little bit."





Although we had other food items on the table, some with lots of carbs and some without, I stopped taking pictures because I was really hungry. I didn't even take pictures of the two pies that my sister had baked - pumpkin and key lime. Both were topped with a generous portion of whipped cream.

Can you imagine what happened in the middle of my pie consumption?

It wasn't a pretty sight.

My eyes closed, my head hung down and I drifted off to sleep. Isn't that just pathetic?!

Yes, I consumed too many items that converted to sugar and whenever that happens, I get very sleepy. I did a pretty good job of fighting the whole sleep thing, but we left shortly after the pie incident.

I am so thankful that Alyssa has a driver's license because when I have that much sugar in me, I act like a giddy drunk person. Seriously, don't use your imagination. I am so silly.

Anyway, by the time we got home, Alyssa was laughing at me and I was barely able to drag myself to the sofa. That was pretty much the end of the night because I fell sound to sleep until 2:30 in the morning. I woke up with terrible cramps in my muscles like I had the flu which is what happens when I am a "very bad girl" with my food.

Wait! If you look at it the other way, I am a "very good girl" with my food because I ate a little of everything. Doesn't that make me a polite guest?

No? How can you say that to me?!

After recounting this whole story, I really think that all blame rests with the stuffing. Redheads are good at tempting with food, not being tempted! The fact that I succumbed to temptation is just proof that a little "thyme" doesn't mean that a person will make "sage" choices. It really is "parsley" the stuffing's fault.

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