58 years, 8 months and 29 days ~ or there abouts

I'll be turning 59 in a couple of months and when the early morning hours nudged me awake a bit ago, I laid in bed and thought about that for awhile. 

When I started this blog and decided to call it "Walking on the Edge of the Knife" it was because I had recently visited an inspirational Georgia O'Keefe exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. Little did I know how prophetic that phrase would turn out to be...

My 58th year has been unlike any other. There have been rewarding, challenging, surprising, exhausting, happy and fun times ~ both professionally and personally.  Some of it I can talk about; some I can't.  Mixed in have been days of sadness, days of fear, days of confusion. Some of it I can talk about; some I can't.  

Probably the same could be said of any life.  Everyone's life is a mixture of good and... not so good.  The thing I am seeing, though, looking down the road into my 6th decade is ~ everything has an expiration date.  Everything. 

My youthful sense of immortality no longer exists and I am left with these questions: How do I make the most of what I have left?  How do I come to terms with what The Universe has brought me? How do I make the world a better place for others and at the same time, make my days personally fulfilling?

My daily calendar pops up on my screen and along with my usual reminders to pay this bill, make this appointment is a reminder that our Anniversary is in 6 days. 

20 years... don't they go by in a blink...

And there's the reminder to call my doctor to follow up on some things. Things that weren't even on my radar a year ago are now daily thoughts.

And the reminder that every day is Christmas in the studio now - get crackin'. I don't have as many 3 am anxiety attacks over my work as I used to. I've settled into a comfortable routine ~ a nice repertoire with my shop owners and customers. I've become more organized and more efficient so my stress level isn't where it used to be when it comes to my Whee Ones (and holiday time in particular). But still ~ Christmas is in, like, three days. At least in my head.   

Call Mom - as I usually do on Thursdays.

I don't see my Mom often ~ she's in Iowa and I'm in Colorado. I will see her in a couple of weeks to celebrate with her as she turns 95. And I am left wondering ~ will it be her last birthday? Or will she be like her friend, Mildred, who at 102 just recently gave up living independently and moved into an assisted living facility.

One thing I don't need to see on my calendar, because it is in my mind constantly is ~ check on Simba.  

At age 16 and a couple of weeks we have seen a steady decline in our girl's health in the past few days and we know her time with us is growing short. And it is breaking our hearts. Of course it is a fact that most humans outlive their pets. But it doesn't make it any easier to accept.

Everything ~ everyone ~ has an expiration date.

And no amount of love can change that.

Balls Out, People! Oh My...

A sure sign that I'm a little more relaxed (as in not inundated with orders) is when I start perusing recipes.  And since I made that appointment for a physical next week (the one that took me about 9 years to make...) it's time to get healthy!  In a week!  

I'm a terrible breakfast eater ~ in that I usually don't eat breakfast. But now that my days are starting with strolls in the park around 6 am by about 8:00 or so I'm ready for a bite.

So I experimented the other day with my first smoothie. 

Yes, I know smoothies have been around for eons but I never gave them much thought. After one I'm a convert. I really liked this combo of blueberries, banana, vanilla yogurt, wheat germ and white grape juice.

Although next time I will follow the recipe and use frozen blueberries.

I do like my drinks cold. 

I liked it so much I am looking forward to trying more recipes and tweaking them to make them my own. 

Then this morning after my park walk and returning home to do the 5 minute Simba walk to the mailbox and back (she's 15.5 - cut her some slack),

I learned that The Mister didn't have meetings until this afternoon, so I decided to try this Balls Out recipe I stumbled upon the other night. (Got your attention, didn't I?)

Balls out, of course

referring to removing avocado pits. 

Such an easy peasy recipe I couldn't believe I had never tried it before.  Pit the avocados, scoop out a little extra avocado to make room for a scrambled egg.  (I'll spare you a pic of a raw scrambled egg because frankly, that would make me gag. You?)

Then I poured the whipped up eggs into the avocados. 

Obviously my pouring technique needs some work. 

Slippery little buggers, those raw eggs.

And I need to get my sprinkling skills down as well. But you get the idea. I opted for Hawaiian Black Salt (kinda' smoky) probably because I've been listening to a lot of Jack Johnson lately. (Yes the Jack Johnson that I am very late to the party enjoying and, trust me, my friends let me know I've been living under a rock.) I added some smoky paprika, too.  Obviously. You can add whatever spices or embellishments you like ~ it will be fun to experiment.

Pop in the oven at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes (your time may vary) and there ya' go - breakfast in an avocado.

Promise I'll work on that presentation.

Years ago a friend dated a guy who liked to cook 

and he always told her

"My dear, presentation is everything."

We figured out later he was gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.  We loved him to pieces. 

The mister opted for the super duper HOT sauce one of his clients makes. Me ~ I went with the Buffalo Tabasco.

So although we both stood in the kitchen eating these new little delights (he next to a laptop he was working on; me over my Surface researching drink recipes for the weekend) ~~ it was really nice to have an impromptu Friday morning breakfast with my sweetie.

Who, as I was making my list for the market said, 

"Why don't you pick up some avocados?"

YYY

(A little note about the pix here - with the exception of the first and last photo - which are Lensbabies, of course - these were all taken with my Windows phone. So they are what they are.)  J