Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

Baked potatoes.

I have been driving the car now about a couple of days, and the very first trip, besides the gas station, was to Costco. Of course. I bought a 10# bag of potatoes, a 4-pack of bacon, amongst other things, and have been enjoying a baked potato each day since.

Since I make my own milk kefir sour cream, I can add that to the potatoes, along with a slice of cheddar cheese. I have yet to buy any green onions to make it complete, but one does what one can when one is able. It’s on my list of things to do.

I have to say, loaded baked potatoes are a joy in my life, simple as they may be. Most of you can have them any time you want, but for me, recently getting out into the city, it has been a dream come true.

Having said that, I hope you stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

The BMW was inspected the other day, and passed.

This morning I drove to Costco for the first time in several years. I walked around for at least a hour. Then, on the way home, I stopped at Home Depot, and walked around there for not quite an hour. So much has changed in each store, and there was so much I wasn’t able to find.

Yet.

So, I’ve decided to take care of myself, and go when traffic and I will get along. For now, I’m enjoying the freedom that comes with owning a beautiful vehicle.

Until next time lovely people, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Bella, and I drove to the gas station, and home again.

Bella is my BMW that’s been held hostage in the garage for 3+ years, just recently having received a very much needed new battery, and inspection. Here she is, in all her glory.

She’s a 2011 BMW X5 35i, and has 71,918 miles. Ivan, and I bought her just before moving down here because the Toyotas we owned weren’t manufactured in a country that was acceptable to customs here. No problem. We traded the newest one in and paid next to nothing for Bella.

I am still having a bit of trouble with some of the nonworking parts, but they aren’t anything that is necessary to drive her. They are some of the luxuries that are included with her style, and vintage.

I was able to have her tank filled, a quart of oil added, windshield washer fluid checked, and all of the tires fully inflated. She runs just as I remember her doing. I told my sisters in a text that she practically drives herself, I simply have to start the engine.

Until next time folks, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I do enjoy shenanigans.

If I’m the one instigating them. And I’m good at them, even if I say so myself.

This past week I have been doing quite a bit of horticultural shenanigans. I’ve repotted dozens of plants into “communities” of plants, no longer left alone, orphaned, sad.

After all of that, I have also rearranged their living spaces. Again. It’s what I do. Wrong, right, then better.

I’ve been learning to stop tending them by the dictates of an app, but by actually poking the soil, feeling how dry, or damp it is. By lifting the pot, and feeling its weight. Is it heavy, and damp. No watering needed regardless of the app. Light weight, dry, then it gets a thorough watering until the water comes out of the drainage hole. Do this, and repeat.

I cannot tell you how much better they all look, and how much less stress I’m under, knowing that 1) they’re living in groups of their own species so I don’t have tons of individual plants to keep track of, but one pot, with the whole family within. And 2) in knowing that they’ve been soaked through, and draining well, if I miss checking on them as maybe I should, (I mean I’ve only just started doing this so give me some time to adjust before you criticize me, ok?) they aren’t going to shrivel up, and (gasp) die.

You may already practice taking care of your plants this way, but it’s all new to me. I knew when to water my outdoor plants years ago, but this is a whole new adventure.

And I’m loving every minute of it.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Post script: I hope you all enjoy a very Happy Halloween. Stay safe.

I discovered something this afternoon.

I’ve been beating myself up recently because I’ve not been getting outside to take my daily walks until well after noon. I used to be out of the apartment by 10:30a at the latest, and back home in time for brunch.

Things have changed, and I just need to accept them, and move on.

I’m a morning person. I’ve always been a morning person, to my recollection. 🤣 Why then, after 71 years of life, have I all of a sudden tried to make myself something I’m not? (That was rhetorical, really. I already have the answer, so don’t trouble yourself trying to figure it out. 🫂)

I enjoy getting all of my todo list done in the morning, after my coffee, well, during my coffee, and breakfast, truth be told. I told my sisters the other day that it takes me at least an hour to eat my breakfast, warm or cold, is of no significance. I have things to do, and they need to be done whilst I have the energy, and, more importantly, motivation to do them, or they don’t get done.

I won’t list the things I do in the morning because some of you probably do them as well. For me, though, it’s been a time of enlightenment, realizing it’s ok to not walk until afternoon. I’ve done my chores in the morning, and now I have time for a leisurely, enjoyable walk. I can amble about wherever the route takes me. I’m no longer on a schedule, needing to be back home at a certain time. It’s very freeing I must say.

So, until next we meet, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Ok, so it wasn’t exactly wine, or roses.

Actually, it was Anthuriums, Chlorophyllums, Crassulas, Echeverrías, Haworthiopsis, Orbeas, and Sansevierías. No wine was consumed.

Max, and I have spent the last 2 days going through all of my plants, of which, as you can see from their botanical names, I have several. Of 3 of them, I have multiples, that are driving me crazy(ier). They are all around the living room, on high shelves, and, unfortunately, not being pampered, much less even looked at.

That has all changed. We made new potting soil mixtures, removing old soil, (as needed), replaced it with new soil, with perlite, and orchid bark amendments, and finding them new accommodations.

Then, the CDMX water-sensitive plants, were given a very thorough watering with distilled, mineral free water, allowing the water to run from the drainage holes, about 1L in total for each plant.

They look amazing, and it’s only been 2 days. Thank you Lord. I’m praying I can keep them alive, and healthy for as long as they want to stay with me.

Until next time, my lovelies, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

These 5 became a community, below.

There have been only 2 different occasions when I’ve heard our 3 sets of wind chimes sing.

The 1st, and most infrequent hearing is when we have an earthquake, thank you Jesus. That’s exactly why Ivan had me buy them, and put them where we can hear them. (Thank you honey.🥰)

The 2nd, an almost daily occurrence, is when I go through the laundry area, into the pantry. All 3 chimes are hung on my clothes line. As the window is open 24/7 for about 10 months of the year, if there’s any breeze that comes in that way, I’ll hear it.

Today was that day. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard them make such peaceful, melodic notes as they did today. I happened to be in the kitchen, vacuum sealing this, and that, when it started. I had to stop what I was doing to make sure it wasn’t a quake. Thank the Lord, it was not.

I finished what I had been doing, went back to the back of the apartment, to my office, feeling only the slightest amount of breeze in there. I’m considering bringing in one of the chimes to hang by the window. That would be lovely.

Until that happens, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Post script: a very happy birthday to 2 of my grandchildren, Lucas, and Sawyer tomorrow. I hope you both have a wonderful day.

I took a photo of a beautiful cactus garden.

This is set behind a hefty iron gate that surrounds a school of the Centro de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos, on my way to, and from the bank where I walk to pay my gas bill. I have seen it every month since I started walking the 2+km to pay the bill, but I don’t think I ever stopped to take the photo.

I’m so glad I finally did. Isn’t it spectacular? I made it the wallpaper on this iPad. It makes me smile every time I see it.

Until next time, look around when you’re out and about. Look for the amazing things you miss when you’re looking at your phone, or watching the sidewalk in front of you. Look up. That’s what Jesus asks us to do.

Look up.

Stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Max, and I spent the day transplanting all of my succulents.

The summer of last year, not long before Ivan died, I had gotten a wild hair up somewhere inconspicuous, and transplanted the succulents into the absolute wrong containers.

This is what Max, and I are calling “The Ark”.

There are 4 different types of plants that required 4 different amounts of water, 4 different frequencies of watering, well, you get the idea. We transplanted all 4 to their own pots, to be watered when the soil they’re in is dry to my 2nd knuckle.

There are several others, such as Walter, the peace lily that I was, once again, drowning. No worries. We saved him by removing him completely from his torture chamber, and I gave him a new soil mixture, with potting soil, (dry), orchid bark, and perlite, giving him a much better chance of surviving me.

I also have stopped watering all of the larger plants on a “schedule”, and have started using my index finger to measure the depth of moisture in each of the pots, only watering them when needed. I’m also watering the “CDMX tap water sensitive” plants, the peace lily, (Spathiphyllum), prayer plant, (Maranta), and the spider plants, (Chlorophytum) with distilled water. I give each plant 1/2-1L of the distilled water until it runs out the drainage hole in the bottom of each pot. They are already looking better.

So, today, together, we put them back where they belonged. I can’t water any of them for 2-3 days, allowing the roots to get over the shock of the transplantation. Ugh! It’s killing me.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I took a frozen package of vacuum sealed spaghetti with meat, and mushroom sauce out of the freezer, warmed it up, and had it dinner tonight with a final piece of some delicious focaccia that I made not too long ago.

The spaghetti was awful. It was tasteless mush with interesting textures that made it at least edible. Several weeks ago, I made homemade spaghetti noodles, twisted them into single portions, froze them, then vacuum sealed them, and put them in the freezer. Easy peasy.

I had also made a batch of the most flavorful spaghetti sauce, recipe from Sam The Cooking Guy on YT. I divided it up into several single portions, 8 if I recall each a bit less than 200 g., and froze them.

Well, I gotta tell you that I took a single portion of both of those things, as well as a portion of the focaccia I also made, sealed, froze, and reheated them all for my dinner. It was absolutely 100% better than what I had for dinner tonight.

The moral of my story is that if you have an opportunity to make food from scratch, and can preserve it for future consumption, do it. It was so worth my time, and effort, (which wasn’t a lot), to make these foods into a delicious meal.

I also have 3 more portions of spaghetti, 7 more of sauce, but will have to make more focaccia before my next Italian dinner.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.