WordPress – Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie

January 26th – Nachos

January 26, 2022January 26, 2022 by annemariedemyen, posted in Canadian Meal Options

WordPress seems to be having issues this morning. Every time I add a photo, it changes any previous photos to the new photo and adds multiples….

Anyway, Dan and I had a nice time out and about yesterday. It had been a couple of weeks since I had been anywhere, so it was nice to get a change of scenery – even if most of our scenery is buried under an abundance of snow.

We stopped at Mark’s for their seasonal clearance sale, where I did not buy anything. We stopped at Walmart, where I did buy a few things including three pairs of round the house lounging pants. We stopped at Old Fashioned Foods to pick up raw sunflower seeds and enjoy the heavenly aromas of that store. Finally we drove across the city to a little shop to pick up some CBD cream. With all the running around, it was too late to put together the supper I had planned on, so… we made nachos for supper.

***Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning.***

**Spread on tortilla chips with green onions, red pepper, jalapeno peppers, green and black olives**

***Cover with shredded habanero cheese***

**Bake until cheese is melted and broil until cheese is browned. Serve with salsa and sour cream.**

That was a painful experience! I hope this post goes through as I made it and you are not treated to seventeen copies of the same photo. 😕

That is it for today. Take care and have a great day!

January 8th – Memories and Leftovers

January 8, 2022January 8, 2022 by annemariedemyen, posted in Canadian Meal Options

Yesterday, I was spending time checking out random posts on WordPress. I do this on a regular basis and generally enjoy my time spent doing it.

Yesterday, I was particularly touched by one of the posts that I came across. https://blursy.co.uk/2022/01/07/are-you-spiritual. (You have to scroll down a bit to get to the post itself.) It is amazing how often I am touched by a post written by someone who is, in so many ways, living a life totally different than mine. This post was written by a young Polish woman working and living in England with her nine year old son. I am a not so young French/Canadian woman, retired, children grown, grandchildren growing up way too fast, living with my husband and my dog. Yet, we are both on a journey of spiritual and emotional healing and for a few minutes yesterday we crossed paths. How cool is that?

One thing in this post that intrigued me was regarding the use of memory work to bring about healing and growth. I do not spend a lot of time looking back, but memories fascinate me. Why is it that if you block bad memories, you lose good memories with them? Why do some innocuous memories stick with you all of the time while memories of major events in your life can be lost forever? Why do smells or sounds or sights jog memories that have been lost for years? How important are memories for mental and emotional health? So many questions, so few answers.

Anyway, this blogger ‘Blursy’, said that it helps her to write out her memories – even memories that seem to be innocent or silly. Somehow she finds this to be very cathartic. I thought about it for a while and decided to try it myself. I settled on a particularly simple memory from my early childhood. A moment in time that I have never forgotten. I ended up writing an entire page in a notebook. What I wrote was not that earth shaking but for whatever reason it shook me. I cried for an hour. It was the strangest experience but it felt really good. I look forward to giving it another go.

Last night, supper was a simple meal of leftover pork roast served up as pork fried rice. With it we had gyoza and small spring rolls.

***Frying up the rice with a bit of olive oil and butter***

***Chopping vegetables for the rice. I love these ‘disposable’ containers that we get mushrooms in. I do not dispose of them!***

**Homemade gyoza sauce. I use 2 tblsp of soya sauce, 2 tbsp of rice wine , 1** ***tsp sesame oil.*** ***I add one of, or a combination of, finely grated fresh ginger, sesame seeds, finely chopped green onions, chilli pepper flakes.***

That is it for today. Take care and have a great day!

September 1st – A Piece of My Mind

September 1, 2021September 1, 2021 by annemariedemyen, posted in A Piece of My Mind - September 2021

We are kicking off a new month, so it is time to move forward with a new theme. The theme for my blog this month is obviously: A Piece Of My Mind 😁

I love WordPress! What I specifically love about WordPress is that it is real genuine people sharing details of who they are with other real genuine people. I have tried to be as honest and open as possible but I have decided that I am ready to go deeper.

It is time to share the real me (under the grey hair and wrinkles 😂). This month, I plan to share bits and pieces of my mind each day – my thoughts, ideas, opinions, and beliefs.

Today’s blog is just a ‘Rules of Engagement’ for the blogs to come this month.

1. I am not looking for validation of my thoughts, ideas, opinions, and beliefs. I always appreciate comments, but feel free to disagree in a reasonable manner. (No death threats or profanity would be real nice!)

2. I respect who you are and I am interested in who you are – your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and beliefs. I appreciate you sharing them in the comment section – even if they are totally contrary to mine.

3. That is about it!

There will be more words than pictures this month but I have a few photos from yesterday that I just had to share.

**Taking 6 yr old Dom for a walk yesterday.**

We didn’t have too much damage to our yard and both of our vehicles seem okay. The storm hit the northwest corner of the city bad. There were residential streets flooded, trees stripped bare, and the roof of one of the spiral mill buildings out at Evraz was peeled off. (A building where Dan usually works but he is still at the steel mill.)

That is it for today. Hope you are having a good day! Take care and see you tomorrow. 💞