Happy New Year Peeps!

I wanted to post something for you to think about for the coming New Year... kind of like the Pay it Forward theme...and I have a direct challenge for you for 2007.

First I want to share something with you that got me to thinking... A couple of weeks ago Lovie and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few food items for Christmas. I was going to pay for some of it out of my cash I had in my pocket and Lovie was going to put the rest on our debit card. Sometimes you have to work it that way when money gets a little tight around the holidays...So anyway we got the items we needed and got in line. The cashier rang up my stuff and told me the total and because it was alot less than I thought it was going to be I told her to go ahead and put Lovie's items on my bill. The cashier was taken aback I think. She thought we did not know each other and thought I was doing a random act of kindness. I told her not this time because I knew Lovie and I wanted to go ahead and just pay for her items as well, but I said that would be a great act of kindness though... It brought a smile to her face and it got me to thinking of how simple it was that we could do something like that to a stranger in line behind us. I mean you just never know what an impact that such a simple act could do for someone and if you were the recipient how that would be a surprise to you and make you feel great all day. It really got me to thinking....

As we bring this year to a close I want us all to reflect on our own lives and ask ourselves this question. "What can we do to make our lives better and make the lives of the people around us better?" Then take it one step further and ask yourself. "How can we extend that to the greater world around us?"

Maybe the answer to the latter question comes in the form of Random Acts of Kindness. I'm not talking about just a smile and a hello, but more of an actual action that can have a positive effect on another human being and bring a smile to their face and a good feeling in their heart and yours.

Maybe it is something simple like carrying groceries to the car for an elderly person, or buying a toy for a small child who could use a smile. Maybe it is visiting a local nursing home and giving the gift of your time to somebody who has nobody else. Maybe it's using your spare change to pay for the car behind you at a toll booth. Maybe it's volunteering a day or a few hours at a local homeless shelter where they serve meals. Maybe it's taking the extra canned goods from your pantry that you'll never use and giving them to a food bank. Maybe it is seeing a single mother in the grocery store who looks like she's having a hard time making ends meet and barely has enough money to get baby formula and you hand her a $20 bill just because! Can you imagine the feeling it would give her knowing she can buy food for her child. It will give you a good feeling inside too. It would bring a smile to both of your faces.

There are thousands of little things that you can do that dont even involve money but can be a positive act or impact to another person. Bake cookies for someone just because! Go through your closets and clean out the stuff you havent worn in the last year and give them to a local children's orphanage. They would be glad to have them. Clean up and simplify your own living space and at the same time give from your heart to help others. What could be better than that? Volunteer to read children's story books at your local library for a group of children. Can you see their little faces all happy and smiling?

My point is that we never know how a random act of kindness can impact the lives of the other person, but maybe just maybe it will spark them to do an act of kindness for somebody else too. It really is like the Pay it Forward act. Not only is it helping the recipient but it makes you feel all warm and good inside too. Such a simple little thing can have a positive impact on this world we live in today. With all the greed and selfishness and negativity in the world today, dont you think we could all use a little kindness? We can all do our part to change the world. It may seem like such a little thing and maybe you think it wont have an effect but think about this...How much joy do you feel when somebody has done something good for you unexpectantly? Doesnt that feel great and brings a smile to your face...in fact sometimes we cant believe it so we have to tell someone because it does feel so good and amazes us? Isnt that right?

We are all busy in our own little worlds and it is really easy to become self involved in our own lives and to forget about others out there who are less fortunate than us or who may be struggling with something that we dont even realize how it is effecting them. But we can all do something that doesnt take much time or money.. Heck it isnt even about money either. There are thousands of things you can do that dont even involve money. It's about caring about another human being and being willing to extend a little kindness to others. The world needs it people.

It is so easy to sit around and complain about this and that or the other...but what are you going to do to change it? Complaining doesnt change a thing... but action does. We can all make a difference in this world by doing one small positive thing at a time. If a bunch of us start all doing it then that is going to be alot of positivity in this world and we all want that right? So go on! I challenge you! I challenge you to start now in this New Year. Maybe it will become a habit and wouldnt that be a wonderful habit to have!

Happy New Year Peeps! I wish you the best in all you do and all you come in contact with! I just know that 2007 is going to be a great year! It's up to us to make it that way!

Sorry I wont be at the party tonight at Pup and Ice's place... I will be bringing in the New Year with my sister at her house...A little libations and some food and a whole lotta fun! I'm looking forward to it. Have a great time tonight whatever you do... Have fun peeps and above all stay safe!

Much love and happiness to each of you always!
PolarB ;)

Hello Peeps!!!

Are ya'll still on a Christmas sugar high? Have you had your fill of sugar plums and iced cookies and all them yummy goodies yet?

Well I'm about to talk about some more good food so loosen your belt buckles and settle in on the couch.... NO!! NOT THERE!!!! .....Awwwww.....Opps!!!! You just sat on the cat!! Bend over so we can wedge poor kitty out of your chunky little butt cheeks! (pulling and using my foot on your rear end to unlodge a half gone kitty...OMPF!!!! (falls on the floor with the effort... and whispers to kitty... "I am soooooo sorry... it won't happen again...I promise ") YOU......yes I am pointing at you.... maybe you better just sit in the recliner over there....there that's better. Now pay attention!

This season I have been thinking alot about food and I always like to try new recipes and things around the holidays... I have come up with some really good new ones this year that everyone seems to enjoy and it got me to thinking about more yummo food. OOOhhhh I gotta tell ya about this one! I made a new dip with apple slices and caramel and cream cheese and marshmellow cream and toffee and chocolate chips... talk about yummo!!!! It makes your eyes cross in the back of yo head! Yeah I know...your thinking why in the heck is she talking about this???!!! It's the end of the year where everyone thinks they've put on a few extra pounds around the middle and ya'll start thinking about the New Year and you tell yourselves that you're gonna go on that diet and lose that weight... well... Honeychild... the year aint over yet so let's get down and dirty and talk yummo foods!

This year for Christmas I asked for new cookbooks... not just any old cookbooks but I wanted to start collecting the Gooseberry series of cookbooks. I have looked through a few before and I really love all the tips and extra hints that they add in on every page along with the yummy recipes that are cooked by regular folks like you and me. Most ingredients in the recipes are things you already have right in your pantry so it is a great way to try some new things... I love the new cookbooks and plan to get them all! Hey there.... Don't get me wrong... I like to expand my horizons too and try new foods that I might not otherwise try or eat on a normal day... for instance this past year I tried Calamari when visiting a very good restaurant and found that I absolutely loved it! Now see... I don't go around eating squid everyday of the week or not even once a month... but I do like trying new things... not afraid to try it is what I mean...

So anyway... back to the trail of where I was headed.... I got two new Gooseberry cookbooks for Christmas from Lovie and I was browsing through them... Well Lord-de be- honeychild....I love em and I already have a list of recipes that I want to try. Not only did it make my tastebud start to watering but it also evoked warm memories of my grandmother too. It kind of took me back to when I was a little girl and the way my grandmother used to cook..

Honey she could cook up a storm and never used a recipebook in her life! She was a good country cooking woman who knew how to feed the masses... She would cook up a skillet of homemade cornbread every single day... She didnt fix it in the oven... she cooked it right on top of the stove in a cast iron skillet... and that cornbread went right along with her fried potatoes and gravy and collard greens and soup beans.....that was just one of the many meals we used to eat.. My grandmother boiled her coffee every day right on the stove..and it smelled heavenly.. Her coffee was soo strong I used to say the pot was gonna get right up and walk off the table! My grandmother liked hot and spicy foods and she liked salty foods.. I remember her eating jalepeno peppers like it was an apple. just bit right into it and she loved hunks of cream cheese and crackers as a snack.

My grandmother loved pigs feet too so yeah... I ate em too and I didnt go yucko! I aint eating that stuff! Honey I dug right in because it was good and I was a hungry kid! There were times when we didnt always have food on the table let alone have groceries in the fridge ...so when we did... you didnt have the right to snarl your nose up at it besides.. when you are used to eating good stuff like that ..well it was good and filling. In sooo many ways... I am just like her except I want to live longer than she did so I choose to eat healthier and not die at age 62.

But I loved her and the way she cooked. My grandmother would fix huge breakfasts alot of times. Eggs, porkchops, bacon, sawmill gravy with biscuits and fried tators. Top it all off with some hot sauce and you've got some good eatings there! No wonder I grew up chubby because when my grandmother cooked I enjoyed every bit of it. It was one of the ways that I knew she loved me.

I remember the times that we used to go way down yonder to Kentucky to visit her brother and his wife and family.. Lord they had a house full of kids and they were all round as little houses! No wonder because we used to eat good when we went to visit.. Big huge breakfasts every morning and then around 1 in the afternoon there would be another huge lunch served.. Everyone would come in from working in the fields and sit around the kitchen table that seated about twenty and dig in... Then for dinner a huge feast was prepared with dessert! It is a good thing we didnt live there because I would have been a real roly poly then!

That is one thing I love that I have inherited from her. I have a natural ability to cook just like my grandmother did. I never really watched her cook nor did anyone ever teach me how to cook.. it just all came naturally. I can make homemade gravy from bacon grease just like my grandmothers... There was never any recipe for that. I am blessed to know that I do have that talent and I thank her for giving it to me. Most times I can just taste and tell what ingredients are in a recipe. Most times I make up my own versions of recipes and almost always when I do see a recipe I like, I will add my own special touches here and there to kick it up a notch...as Emmeril says...

Speaking of recipes.. I was searching for a great recipe for Butternut Squash soup this week. Last year when we were treated to dinner from one of our vendors, they took us to a very very expensive restaurant and they served the most delectable squash soup I have ever had the privledge of passing through my lips. It was simply divine to say the least. I wanted to try to duplicate it because I enjoyed it so much. I went on a search to find recipes to see if I thought they matched what I experienced. Well... I think I found it and of course I should have known that it would be from a great Southern Belle. The divine Paula Deen from Savannah, Georgia has a recipe that is pretty dang close. In my search I also found that I really really love her website and I do believe she is my new favorite cook! Funny how I never paid any attention to her before but she is alot like me... she likes her food rich and satisfying. She doesnt worry about calories when preparing a dish and she isnt afraid to use butta!

Paula Deen is what excellent cooking is all about. She is a woman after my own heart.. First of all she's Southern... now I know... you may say... but PolarB ... You are from the North! Yes... Honeychild... this is true... I may be from the North... but my heart and soul lies in the South! I absolutely love the south! First of all the people there are friendly and polite... There is still such a thing as common courtesy in this world and I have found that it is mostly in the Southern States! Second of all is them people know how to cook! They are all about hospitality and good food. You think I'm a kidding? Try this little test! Go into any Cracker Barrell in the Northern States and you are going to get some little round half dollar size imitation of what a biscuit is supposed to be. Now you go to the South and Honey you get yourself a real biscuit! One big huge flaky melt in your mouth biscuit! Paula Deen once answered a question a person asked... Do you ever cook Lowfat foods? Her answer made me chuckle and it's why I love the woman... She said "Honey... I aint your nurse, I am your cook! and I added another stick of butter to the pot! " That sounds so much like me! If there is anything I like... it is my butta... and I love rich creamy foods! As far as them biscuits... we all know that everything is bigger in the South and that includes the butts and you know why? Because them people are eating good!

Now I am not advocating that we all go and get big ole butts... ( I feel a song coming on...Tina got a big ole butt! Oh yeah... PolarB got a big ole butt! Oh yeah!)) Sorry.... Refrain... Bear... Refrain.....
What I am saying is doesnt it feel good to sit down to a good meal and eat comfort foods and push back from the table satified and full. That doesnt mean we cant eat healthy the other six days of the week. Healthy food is good too you know... appples and fruits and veggies! We got to eat em you know! I am on a roll ...(no not a sweet roll...) and I plan to keep it and continue on to being more and more healthy.. I've lost nearly twenty pounds since my surgery and I will lose much much more by being active and eating healthier.

As for me... today... I am cleaning up the Christmas leftovers and we had a yummy Honey Baked Ham..Once in a while a good ole meal like this aint bad...as long as you dont eat like this every single day of the week! I took the hambone and some of the meat and put it in a big pot of blackeyed peas. I fixed up some homemade cornbread and diced a fresh onion for the topping. Nothing like a good bowl of soup beans and ham with lottsa butta and hot sauce layered on with some hot buttered cornbread. In honor of my grandmother... I am gonna say.."That was some good eating grandma and I wish you were here with me now!" She is really... in spirit and in my heart.

So now that I have enticed you with all this talk of food.. I have some questions for you since I probably wont post nuthing tomorrow...

1. What is one food you cannot live without?

2. If you had to give up one of these forever which would it be? Meat...Veggies...Sweets... Potatoes/Pasta or all drinks except water. Pick one.

3. Do you have a special food item that you eat as tradition on New Years Eve/Day?

4. What is your favorite crunchy food?

5. Are you going to go on a diet or change your eating habits after the New Year?

And now... for the Bonus Question!

Will you sing the big ole butt song with me?

Tootle loo Streamers!

Love ya!
PolarB ;)

Merry Christmas Streamers!!!

Christmas in the Stream…

Twas the night before Christmas
When all through the Stream…
Daisy was a pondering
The meaning of her dreams

Scratch was a working and trying to rest
His Vampire stories are the absolute best!
A pork chop busted Pup and Icey
Bout a year ago and they finally had to come clean
While Topaz brings much laughter and smiles to our stream...

Kaz was playing with her Cabbage Patch doll
While Prank’s living by the sea
Near a cutie pie named Six
Who’s a rockin six foot blond tall!

Kristen, Mack, Rita and Wayf all snug in their beds
It better be a king-size, or they’re gonna bump heads!
Belle and the Yankee taking a romantic bubble bath
I hope it’s in a hot tub so they can relax…

Lucy, CC, and Miss Lou decorating the Christmas tree
While Taylor, Whiskers and Cherry are singing Christmas carols for me
Mr. Dan and Debunkem have been quiet as mice for a while
While Gezunda and Randy’s slinking around with lots of mischief and a smile

Stuart’s went on vacation, a year ago for the holiday
We really miss him and Wally’s presence and his blogs of yesterday…
Johnnie’s in paradise on a beach by the sea-
I’m wishing her much happiness, peace and serenity.

Sarah makes me think with a therapeutic twist
It gets my ole noggin knocking coming out of the mist
Schree and her Baby are talking all night long
While Biggie T and Marc are always rockin on!

I’m wondering who’ll be standing under the ole Mistletoe…
Anyone else coming out of the closet? We may never know…
Well… me... I’m PolarB and I’ll always be around
I think you still like me and I’m making my Mama Bear proud!

So to all a Merry Christmas
Thanks for visiting my little site,
The Inner Sanctum’s Polar Bear loves you…
And to all a good night!

Have a wonderful blessed Christmas!!

Love,
PolarB ;)

Happy Holidays!

 

 

Okay… yeah, I know I am a day early but I got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow and don’t know when I’ll get on the ole Stream, so I thought I would do my Friday Questions a day early…. You don’t mind really, do ya?

 

 

Okay… so here they are:

 

1.        What is the one thing you cannot leave home without?

2.       When is the last time you threw a snowball at someone?

3.       What is on the wall over your bed?

4.       Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?

5.       Do you grill out in the winter time?

6.       Can you put a worm on a hook?

7.      Will Santa be arriving down your chimney or through the front door?

8.        What is your favorite chocolate treat?

9.        If you could say one thing to a cannibal to persuade him not to eat you, what would you say?

10.  Do you prefer Italian, Mexican or Chinese the most?       I’m talking food here….LOL!

11.   Do you prefer all white Christmas lights or multi-colored lights?

12.  Do you own a pair of snow boots? What color are they?

13.  Do you have a holiday tradition that has been passed down to you or that you have passed down to your children? What is it?

14. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

15.  Name the last good deed you did for someone. If you can’t think of one… can you promise to do a random act of kindness to a stranger before Dec 31^st?

16. What does a typical Christmas dinner consist of in your house for the holidays?

17. On the Island of Misfit Toys, which one would you choose to take home?

18.  What is a favorite children’s story that you loved as a kid?

19.  What is something nice that you do for just you?

20. Are you a hugger or a hand-shaker when you greet or say goodbye to close friends?

 

Bonus question: Do you know who the Snowbellys are?

 

 

Well peeps… I will be going to therapy in the morning and then off to run errands and hopefully baking more yummy cookies and treats for the holidays!

 

Catch up to you real soon!

Love,

PolarB ;)

Hey Peeps and Peepettes!

Happy Hump Day! Yo this bear is feeling good today. I went back to work half days starting Monday and it has been going pretty great. I work from 8 to 12, the doc restricted me to four hours a day.. and basically that is about right and all I can sit still for...so it's a good slow start back into the work day.

I am liking being back into a productive society... makes me feel good. The knee is hanging in there... like what's it going do? Get up and leave? I don't think so! Anyway this has been a great week to go back.. there are still some holiday happenings and that has just brightened my wittle bitty soul. It's a good thing as Martha says.

Today one of our vendors took us to lunch at a historical place called The Golden Lamb. It is a dining facility and a hotel which has been known for eons of years for it's famous guests. I believe that like 15 presidents have stayed there among many other notables. I passed by Thomas Edison's bedroom and wondered if there where any ghost that inhibited the old quarters. I didnt feel any but that doesn't mean anything. The food was good, not great, but I did expand my horizons and order new things that I had never tried before. Lets see... appetizers we had Sauerkraut Balls. Totally not what I was expecting but not bad at all. Breaded balls that resembled a salmon patty texture with a hint of sauerkraut flavor. They served them with cocktail sauce which was a great addition to the flavors. For the main course I had Leg of Lamb.... again... never had it before and I likened it to roast beef..In fact it could have been for all I know... The rest of the food was just okay... salads...rolls which were fresh baked and good... then we ordered desert and I got the Southern Pecan Pie which was the best part of the meal. Considering I dont like alot of sweets, it was delicate enough with a flaky crust that melted in your mouth that it just hit the spot. It turned out to be a very enjoyable afternoon and was sort of a trip down memory lane for me. I used to live near there when I was 17 for about six months. I have distant family of origin on my birth mother's side that still reside in the town, although I havent seen them in years and dont plan to anytime soon.

This morning when I got to work one of my coworkers gave us all a holiday gift that she made. It was a jar with some green stuff in it and had a pretty bow and a holiday serving thingy hooked onto it. I looked and thought maybe it was a green salsa made from tomatillos but it wasn't..... The card held a recipe and I discovered that this was something called "Aunt Judy's Jezebel Sauce" ..... Okay now I was intrigued..... I read on further as to what the ingredients were. Okay... Okay.... not bad.... says to serve over cream cheese and eat with crackers! Also said it has a kick to it.... Well... since I am expanding my horizons... Dagnabbit! I guess I will have to try some of that stuff!

I thought maybe I'd find some adventurous coherts and maybe they'd want to try some of it too... So..... anyone else game?

Here is the recipe!

Aunt Judy's Jezebel Sauce

1 18oz jar pineapple preserves
1 18oz jar apple jelly
1/2 small jar of dry mustard
1/2 small jar of horseradish
2 Tablespoons of black pepper

Mix well! Keeps for 1 year in refrigerator.
Serve over cream cheese with crackers.

It certainly is an interesting concoction... and it makes me wonder how Aunt Judy came up with the recipe... and why is it called Jezebel Sauce? Yep... it probably does have some kick to it with that horseradish added in... I'm just hoping my legs stay firmly on the ground and together!

Anyway... that's about all I have for today... I am doing great and feeling almost as fit as a fiddle. Have a great hump day or a great day humping... whichever you choose....whatever it is... make it good!

Ornery little stinker today aren't I?
He! He! He!

PolarB ;)


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