When life interferes…

Date: August 14, 2014

Author: Bobbi Holmes

At the end of May I received two comments on my blog in response to my post “Instead of a treadmill desk – a jogging trampoline!” I intended to respond but life got in the way. My husband came down with a mystery infection and then had emergency surgery the first week in June. He came home after almost a week in the hospital and had to undergo six weeks of in-home IV treatment, with me playing nurse.

Things are sort of getting back to normal around here. Sort of.

Don hasn’t been back to his office, but he’s off the IV and now going to physical therapy about three times a week. In spite of his pain and fatigue he’s getting some work done (he is a real estate broker), but that means he’s moved into my home office and we are sharing a desk. I bought one of those little devices that hook up two computers to the same monitor and keyboard, so both of our desktop computers are on my roll top desk.

I don’t use my desktop computer much these days—and prior to Don getting sick, I used to put my laptop on the desk’s keyboard drawer when I wasn’t standing on the trampoline typing.

When Don came home from the hospital the trampoline got shoved aside. I’ve just recently set it up again, yet I’m not using it at the level I was before, for one thing Don and I are still sharing the office, and when I write I can’t do it with anyone in the room. This means I often retreat to the living room couch with my laptop, to find solitude necessary for me to write. Fortunately it is swimming weather, so the pool gives me a daily work out.

As for my writing, yesterday I sent my latest book off to the editor—Haunting Danielle. I normally write fiction under my pen name, Anna J. McIntyre and non-fiction under my real name. But Haunting Danielle is a little different from my other McIntyre books, so I was trying to decide if I wanted to publish under my real name—or the pen name I normally use for fiction.

I decided to publish the book under both names. Why? you ask. It will let my McIntyre readers know the book has a slightly different flavor from my other titles under that name, yet like the McIntyre books it is character driven.

One of my greatest marketing failings as an independent author is creating a series that doesn’t neatly fall under a specific genre. I did this with my McIntyre’s Coulson Series—and now I’ve done it again with Haunting Danielle. I’m trying to pin it down–a ghost story, paranormal mystery, with a splash of romance and maybe a bit on the cozy side. There’s no graphic sex in this one—and while many of my readers insist McIntyre romances are on the clean and sweet side, some reviewers claim there is too much graphic sex in my books. Go figure.

Haunting Danielle is the first book in a new series by the same name. Look for its eBook release on September 1, 2014.

Spanish rice – made with cauliflower instead of rice!! YUMMMM!

Date: August 12, 2014

Author: Bobbi Holmes

Categories: Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes

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When I grew up our family never had rice. But my husband’s step-father was from Hawaii, and white short grain rice was something they had at almost every meal. Fried rice for breakfast, stew served over rice, rice instead of potato—rice, rice rice. So for my husband and I, rice became a regular staple in our family’s diet.

We started slowing down on the rice a number of years ago, and turned exclusively to brown rice (the rare times we have it) after my husband was diagnosed with diabetes. Rice is rich in sugar and carbs.

Our son is into the paleo diet lifestyle and told me how he makes fried rice using cauliflower. During the last few years I’ve made pizza dough and tortillas with cauliflower—both of which I enjoyed. Yet, it is a heck of a lot of work.

Last night I was making tacos and wanted a side dish. I had a head of cauliflower in the frig, so I wondered—could I turn it into mock Spanish rice??

As it turns out, making rice from cauliflower is a heck of a lot easier than making pizza dough or tortillas. For all three recipes you have to toss the cleaned and trimmed cauliflower into the food processor to “rice” the cauliflower—turning it into tiny rice-size pieces.

But with pizza dough and tortillas you have to microwave the riced cauliflower and then squeeze out the water. The squeezing part is a pain. But making rice was easy and it was delicious! I will definitely make it again.

Directions
1. Clean the cauliflower, removing stems and leaves. Cut in pieces and toss in a food processor to chop it into rice-size pieces.
2. Dice half an onion.
3. Dice a fresh serrano hot pepper. More if you like it spicy, or use a can of diced green chilies.
4. Toss four or five fresh tomatoes in the food processor. Pulverize then add the chilies.
5. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan.
6. Sauté the onions in the hot oil until translucent.
7. Add riced-cauliflower. Stir and allow it to brown slightly.
8. Season liberally with whole cumin.
9. Stir in the tomato mixture and lightly salt.
10. Brown a bit and then add grated cheddar cheese and take off the burner. Allow the cheese to melt.

I understand the amounts for the ingredients aren’t exact—I made the recipe on the fly. But it will give you a general idea of how to make it, if you want to give it a try.

Yummy and healthy!

EDIT: I forgot to include the garlic. I gave the dish a few shakes of powdered garlic with the cumin. This is what happens when I start making recipes up and don’t write everything down!!

Where to put your elderly parent: your home or care home?

Date: August 11, 2014

Author: Bobbi Holmes

Categories: Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes

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Some people call us saints. Some people call us crazy. The fact is, we are just doing what many families do—being there for each other.

I’ll be sixty in November. My husband started collecting Social Security last year. He decided to take it early, at sixty-two. Our eldest celebrated his 35th birthday this week—making me feel even older.

It’s been years since one of our two kids lived with us. Both are married and doing exceedingly well in their careers. Our daughter is a talented graphic designer and our son just received another promotion in management with the company he works for.

Unlike some people we know, who complain about their adult kids moving back home, or having to help raise their grandchildren, we haven’t had those problems. We’ve been blessed with self sufficient, hard working children.

This doesn’t mean Don and I can take off and enjoy our golden years. Did I mention our mothers live with us? Both of them. His and mine. The ladies are each 86 years old. Now you understand what I meant about saints and crazy.

After we moved into this house we added a sitting area to one of the bedrooms, where my mother resides. A couple of years ago we built a guest house on our property for my mother-in-law. Fortunately the ladies are relatively healthy and are capable of taking care of their personal needs, however they no longer drive.

While both ladies are for now self sufficient, the situation has significantly clipped our wings. Don and I long to sell the house and move closer to our kids, but we can’t see how to maneuver such a move without displacing the moms.

Last month Don ended up in the hospital with an infection in his artificial knee. The knee was not the culprit, just where the infection settled. After emergency surgery, Don had to undergo six weeks of in-home IV treatment, which I administered.

The medical ordeal was a wakeup call—reminding us how quickly the years are slipping by. We’ve been spending the last few weeks trying to figure out how to enjoy our years, while not abandoning our mothers.

One option is purchasing an RV—something that will enable Don and me to escape for weeks at a time, and then return to home base and check on the moms, before taking off again.

Let’s see if we can pull this off.

(Photo: MIL cottage under construction 2012)