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We had our friends over for supper on Saturday night. Supper? What she say?

We always have company over for dinner but this time we wanted to do something informal, not fussy, without a lot of mess and cleanup.

When I was growing up we had supper every night. That’s what it was called. We also had Sunday dinners.

I’ve never given it much thought until now. We had dinner when the boys were growing up. We still call it dinner.

The age-old question, “What do want for dinner?” Dinner, not supper. The answer is always, “I dunno.”

After we invited our friends on Friday night, Marty and I started brainstorming what I could make.

We both wanted something informal and easy. A meal that I could just pull out of my ass like a magic trick.

We decided on Thai red curry with chicken and veggies. I make variations of this dish all the time; sometimes even for lunch.

I have to say I make pretty good Thai food. Once I taught myself how, I mix up the curry paste, proteins, and vegetables.

The curry was served family-style with a big bowl of steamed jasmine rice.

My friend David leaned over to me when he tasted it and told me it was good.

His husband Arthur made the sound, “mmmmmm” when he likes something. Yay!

I knew it was good when Martin, a chef, ate two bowls of food. I was pretty happy about that since he doesn’t eat much.

I call it a supper because everyone came to eat a meal. The evening started at 6:30 and ended at 8:30 pm. An early night for everyone. Like supper.

It was great just sharing a meal with friends and having a chance to catch up. Like people did back in the day when people said supper.

Instead of worrying about shit all the time, I use my brain to think of this kind of stuff. 😂

Below is a link of my recipe for Thai red curry that I wrote for my cooking class.

Remember, you can use any protein and veggies. The recipe isn’t limited to what I wrote.

*** sorry the link didn’t open. I am not a techie. I’ll try to put up the recipe another way.

Frenchies are special little dogs that were bred for the elite to be lap dogs.

They fall deeply in love with their owners and cannot be left alone for more than 3-4 hours tops.

Frenchie owners have to be aware of this before their little scrunchy face comes home.

For us, we work in the production kitchen behind our home; 38 steps away.

We check in on Nelly on longer production days. She knows now when we say, “We’ll be right back” that we will be.

She used to have terrible separation anxiety and took it out on anything she could get her hands on.

She didn’t destroy furniture as Otto did, he ate our leather couch.

She would knock things over, chew up any paper, and two TV remotes which was our fault for leaving them where she could reach them

Another thing Frenchie owners have to do every day is grooming, or in Nelly’s case, her spa treatment.

I started this routine the morning after she was delivered to us so she would get used to it right away.

We couldn’t ever clean, brush, or clip Klaus or Otto’s nails. They would growl a scary growl that made us back off.

Frenchies can’t clean themselves so there is a lot of butt wiping. We say, “Let me check your hiney” and she stops on a dime for a wipe.

Female Frenchies need their female parts cleaned as part of their daily grooming routine. It’s no big deal.

Next, cleaning in between those adorable wrinkles on their faces and their ears are done everyday.

Longer spa days once a week including clipping her nails and smoothing them out with a grinder is no problem.

Nelly sleeps through the process and finds it relaxing. I find that relaxing too.

Finally, she gets a small amount of doggie coconut oil sprayed on her brush and I remove any loose fur.

She loves the brushing so much and likes to sniff the brush before we start.

Nelly joins Sam and me always smelling things we use. Laundry, lotions, shampoos, spices, food, new items, etc.

I always let her smell any new fruit or veggie she gets. She loves the smell of watermelon and the fruit itself. She recognizes it now.

I haven’t shared our special spa time together everyday with anyone, so today was the day.

She is the little love of our lives. We are very lucky we found her or she found her way to us almost a year ago this month.

58 trips around the sun. This is going to be my best year yet; I can feel it.

I’ve been working on releasing things that no longer serve me and removing blockages.

My niece Tabatha, pointed out that we had a vortex in our home. Vortexes are bad, it’s when two mirrors are facing each other.

Why kind of psychic medium am I?

As soon as my brother and Tabby left on Sunday afternoon, I removed the living room mirror. I left the one in our dining room.

It wasn’t my imagination, I felt a shift occur. I believe the vortex was blocking good luck, prosperity, and opportunities to come through our home.

The vortex was located two feet from the front door. I educated myself about the two mirror thing and was shocked I didn’t feel it.

Again, what kind of medium am I?

I guess it’s like reiki, it works on anything I touch or send remotely but I can’t feel it on myself.

This morning we made a trip to Saratoga to make spätzle deliveries and we found these two mugs at TJ Maxx which are perfect for tea.

They were waiting for me on my birthday for $5 each. A bargain! 🥳

This afternoon and evening I will be belly dancing with my friends and students. My leg is feeling great. Knock on wood.

I pulled a container of meatballs and sauce out of the freezer. We will make a little pasta when I get home.

Presto, one of my favorite birthday dinners as a child. Mmmmmmm! 🍝

Have a great day, guys! Thanks for letting me be me.

You never know what you will stumble upon when you go to the store for a tube of BenGay.

I found this adorable princess crown at our local DG for $1.

I hobbled over to the self-checkout, which I despise, and paid for my little treasure and topical hot cold shit for my right leg.

I pulled my right glute muscle in the first dance class of 2019. It hurt for months.

When the weather gets cold, it literally kicks my ass. The pain has been pretty steady for most of February.

After leaving DG I went to dance class. I moved my right leg a little too far out and Boom! It felt like an arrow in my leg. 🎯

Needless to say, I couldn’t put any weight down on that leg but managed with a lot of pain to do upper body strength training moves and teach classes.

I was pissy on my way home and was in agony. When I got home I quickly tried on Nelly’s little crown, my heart melted and it cheered me up.

This little princess has become our magical princess that turns frowns upside down, and makes us so happy and lovey-dovey.

She is such a cuddle bug but likes to play hard. She knows how to play Marty like a fiddle which is the cutest thing ever for me to watch.

She was in her glory this weekend and I was too since my brother Dan and my 16-year-old niece Tabatha came to visit.

We had a wonderful time getting to each other better with lots of one one-on-one time.

We only met for the first time at the end of 2019 just before Covid. We still have a lot to catch up on and this was our chance.

Noah and Aja came for dinner on Friday night. Dan and Noah had a lot of stuff to chat about. It made my heart so happy!

Just as they were packing up to leave today, Sam showed up after spending time in Lake George for the weekend.

It was great they could at least talk for a few minutes before they headed back to Jersey.

It was a weekend retreat for them and me. We had lots of laughs, lots of stories to tell, and a few tears and we talked about the good and bad things we got from our father.

Father. Sperm donor. He was never a dad to his 3 children and split when Dan was 6 months old.

He never knew about me which was absolutely the best thing for me and my biological mom.

I am headed to bed with little Miss Nelly now. I know I’ll fall asleep with a smile on my face and more love in my heart. ♥️

***Post done on my iPhone so excuse the errors.

Three words, butter swim biscuits. Yes, they are a thing and they are delicious.

I’ll be writing a post about them in a couple of days. In the meantime, be well and I’ll catch up with you soon. ☀️

Today is Marty’s birthday! I made his card for him this year.

It’s very simple since I am a just starting to learn how to draw, but I think I captured Nelly’s sweetness.

Happy Friday! 💖

Since I took art classes back in my school days, I’ve always wanted to take more. Life didn’t allow that until now.

I still always think I have to take any kind of classes in person. Why the hell I don’t think about online classes is beyond me.

My friend Arthur who lives next door has many of the same wants on our still to do lists.

One day he shared he was taking art lessons on line. I was like…oohhhh.

I think he is most interested in painting where I wanted to learn to draw and sketch. Perhaps eventually learning to paint as well.

Arthur gave me the name of the online teacher he uses and I checked him out. Then I found another art teacher from Vancouver.

Michael Markowsky created lessons during the initial lockdown during the pandemic.

The lesson are free but you can send him small donations which I plan to do.

I like his way of teaching and noticed many of the same methods to his teaching as mine in teaching belly dancing.

He makes noises and sound effects when he is demonstrating drawing shapes. I think of music and our dance moves as shapes as well.

Bottom line, I get this guy. Today, I attempted my first perspective drawing.

I have already seen where I mistakes and I need to get a small ruler to make the perspective lines straight.

Am I happy with what I have learned in the first three weeks of lessons? Fuck yeah.

I am a right-sided thinker and found drawing shapes and shading difficult.

I have to pause the video and practice a few times that day and the next before proceeding with the lesson.

One day, after an hour and a half of a lesson, my brain hurt the way it used to when during standardized testing as a student.

We were encouraged to draw one or two rooms in our homes before starting the next lesson. Our bedroom is next.

I have not learned how to add small details and circles or ovals yet.

When I walk into rooms now, my eyes search for the perspective point in the room and can draw the room in my head.

That’s progress my friends I am super stoked about. Yay!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday guys.

Since Marty finally got his CPAP machine last week we both have been sleeping! Yay! 🤩

Feeling well rested and the sun shining brightly for days has me in high-gear cleaning mode.

I needed to give our upstairs a good cleaning and every day I accomplished a couple of projects.

The projects are things that I knew needed to be done such as high and low dusting.

Our two chandeliers also needed a dusting big time and I set up a CPAP area next to Marty’s side of the bed.

When it was in the low 50s this afternoon I tackled the four upstairs windows.

I was still in a funk and didn’t feel like fall cleaning them plus I didn’t do them in the springtime because I was still unwell.

Honestly, the windows were horrible . I am a clean freak so I was so disgusted when I noticed how much of the glorious sunshine wasn’t getting through the grime.

Now, the windows look fantastic and the rooms are brighter.

After I cleaned the mini chandelier in the bathroom I noticed how the reflections of the crystals danced around the room.

In true Julz fashion, I called Marty to come see. Him and my boys always come to look at things I show them.

I didn’t realize it’s living in the moment which I have been doing for as long as I can remember, not just something new when I pulled my head out of my ass this fall.

Big full moons or perfect crescents. The sky on a clear night. Star gazing, rainbows, big snowflakes, sun rises and sun sets, the smell of a summer rain. You get the picture.

I have a few more projects then I’ll be baking sweets for a tea party I am hosting on Saturday.

Many of you will recognize one of my guests, I’ll be sure to take photos.

Sometimes you just need a warm and gooey grilled cheese sandwich. Today, was that kind of morning.

These single-digit numbers we’ve been waking up to in the mornings make you want warm fuzzy everything.

This is the first winter I’ve enjoyed since I was a kid. I stared winter right in the face and said, “Hi, remember me?”

I was always a summer person but now after a horrendous year, I am appreciative of every season.

I am “wintering” like the nature and animals around me. It’s like a “when in Rome” kind of feeling. A feeling of acceptance.

Instead of hating to put on winter shit to go out, I am appreciative for my warm fuzzy hat, gloves, scarf, socks and down jacket. I love my winter muck boots and leg warmers.

No, I haven’t gone off my nut, even though I’ve gotten pretty close, I’m slowing down, and looking around, and living in the moment.

Last year, at this time I would have said what a bunch of bullshit like many of you are.

However, when faced with the notion you may be lucky enough to be here for another winter or two, shit changes. Big time.

Last year’s health crisis took its toll on my mind and body; and now it’s showing.

All that stress and anxiety has caused my hair to shed, I hate to use those words “fall out” like crazy.

I’ve lost 50% of my hair all over not in clumps thank God. I am lucky I started with a thick head of hair.

My hair still looks good but it’s thin. Let me tell you it’s been scary as hell with every handful or brush full that comes out.

It has made me cry for weeks on end creating even more stress. My strong thick hair is a part of who I am.

I don’t want to jinx myself but I think it’s finally slowing down. My doctor said it would grow back and I’ll have my thick hair back in no time. 🙏🤞🏼

I had a small bout of psoriasis show up again but I’m showing it who’s boss.

It rears its ugly head when I am very stressed. It started when I was 9 years old, I had a nervous breakdown of the skin.

That was the year we moved away from family and friends, I went to a new school, and my mother turned on me and started treating me like Cinderella.

Right now it’s pretty much under control. I dealt with it for the first two years of the pandemic. I know what to do.

I’ve been exhausted after months and months of stress which I am giving into while I am “wintering.”

Sometimes you just need a grilled cheese sandwich, a kiss on the head, and be told everything will be fine.

Everything will be fine. I haven’t been able to share this until today. I had no idea I would write about it until the words formed easily.

As always, thanks for reading and following me on this rollercoaster of life. ❤️

Happy Friday my friends! Cheers…