5 Simmering Pot Recipes to Make Your House Smell Swell

CC image courtesy of A Writer's Afoot on Flickr.

With two cats, a guy, and a little person, our house can start to smell ... ummm ... unfresh. One of the easiest ways to remedy that is to start a simmering pot. Try these recipes or invent your own.

How It Works: Just fill a pot with water, add delicious smelling ingredients, and set on the stove or radiator. Soon your home will smell just as delicious as your ingredients!

Just Remember: Keep checking to make sure the water doesn't evaporate. I did this once and burnt the pot. Let's just say the burnt pot smell kind of defeated the purpose. Now, I set an alarm for every half hour and add water.


1. Apple-pie in the sky: 

• apple juice, 
• 1 tps of vanilla
• 2 tps of cinnamon

2. Lemon Zest: 

• lemon peel
• lemon slices 
• 1 tps of vanilla

3. Orangeya Glad You Did: 

• Orange peels
• 1 Orange sliced into 1/8s
• 1 tps vanilla
• 1 tps nutmeg 

4. Christmas Greeting 

• 1/2 cup of Cranberry
• 1 Lemon sliced into 1/8s 
• 1 tps of cinnamon 

5. Rosemary Delight

• 3 tbs of dried rosemary (or 2 sprig of fresh)
• 1/2 lemon sliced
• 1 tps of vanilla

The Art of Being Lost

CC image courtesy of i_yudai on Flickr.

When I was younger, I was angsty. Like most young people out in the world, I believed there was art to be lost, sad, and frustrated with the world around me. It was fun to sit and brood in my ... lostness.

Throughout my life, at major transitions, I have often found myself in this state of lostness without really wanting it. When my dad died, when I was laid off from my job ... these major transitions always seemed to bring on that feeling of being between things. I was no longer the person I was, but not yet the person I was about to become. It was like my life had not caught up with who or where I was now. It was an uncomfortable stalemate.

When you are a stepmom, it is easy to get lost. There are constant demands and constant expectations that take you away from where you are and thrust you in a different direction. We become lost in a city of other people's expectations. We lose our roadmap. We become tourists in our own lives.

If this is the way you feel today, indulge. Savor the feeling of being lost. Accept where you are. And when you are ready explore where you have been.

Exercise:
You may want to start a journal and ask yourself what were you passionate about when you were 5-10, 15-20, 25-30, 35-40, etc.

1. What did you like to do?
2. Who were your friends? Why were they your friends?
3. What did you believe in? Why did you believe in it?
4. What sort of music did you like?  
5. What movies did you like?  

As you chart your interests, look for transitions and turning points in your life.

Remembering where you have been, can be a help unlock hidden passions and desires. It is also an honoring of yourself and all you have been through. It is a key to finding yourself again.

Turning We to Me

CC image courtesy of metaphorical platypus on Flickr.

Last night, I had a bath. Now don't get me wrong, I have had a lot of baths in my time. Smelly baths, bubbly baths, romantic baths . . . Let's just say I am a bit of a bath connoisseur. But last night was different.
As I was lying in the water while my partner was putting his daughter to bed, I realized I was all alone. No cats. No kid. No partner. It was one of the first times in the past two years that I let my guard completely down and enjoyed a moment of perfect bliss.
If being a mom is hard, being a stepmom is even harder because there is a decided dislike for stepmoms in our society. We are constantly thought to be home-wreckers, husband stealers, kid stealers ... cat stealers. We constantly feel attacked, criticized, and most of all judged. If mom can do no wrong, stepmom can do no right.
Then there are the demands. There is a constant juggle between who, what, where, why. Sometimes, there seems like there is very little time to turn we to me.
Let's change that! Let's turn our focus back to ourselves. Let's remember who we are so we can shine our lights out into the world. What do you say ladies? Up for the We to Me Challenge?