How did we ever...

Every now and then, an invention comes along and if we are one of the adventurous type that take the plunge to acquire said invention we may find ourselves struck by the revelation "How did we ever get along without _____."

For the past two years I've heard people talking about their new insta-pot; recipes filled my social media feeds every day of all the yummy food prepared in a fraction of the time. When our oldest daughter Amy purchased a Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker, Sam and I contemplated purchasing one, but never acted on it. We felt it didn't fit our needs--it just wasn't what we wanted.

Then came along the Ninja Foodi Smart Grill. And this past August we took the plunge. Would this be yet another high-priced gadget that we use a few times, and then lose interest when the newness wears off? Nope. Not this time. Holy moley game changer! We were gob-smacked. To say the Smart Grill is amazing is an understatement. After the first two uses we found ourselves asking How did we ever get along without one? 

Our Ninja Foodi Smart Grill

Forget to take something out of the freezer for dinner. No problem. It cooks frozen food, thoroughly, in a matter of minutes.

Want to grill a steak but it's cold, windy and rainy outside? No problem. The Smart Grill can take care of that without any smoke inside your house.

It even tells you when to turn the food over. O-M-G! It air frys, it grills, it roasts, it bakes, it dehydrates. It handles dinner in a snap when you've had a long, exhausting day at work and you just don't feel like cooking for 45 minutes to an hour. We haven't tried the baking or dehydrating feature yet, but I'm sure we will.

Fried chicken, our first meal with the new Foodi Smart Grill.

Fried chicken breast for a summer salad with apples, pecans and parmesean cheese.

Steak on the smart grill.

We've cooked salmon cakes, fish 'n chips, steak, port loin, chicken, hash browns, roasts. We even made jojo's (an Idaho thing...potatoes cut into spears and then fried in oil) in the air fryer without having to worry about the oil, and they turned out better than anything cooked in oil. 

More air fried chicken.

Salmon cakes.

Pork loin.

Frozen hash brown patties, fried to a crisp in under 20 minutes.

If there is one draw back to the Ninja Foodi Smart Grill, it is this: you do need to keep the screen in the lid clean. In our home, we accomplish this by removing the screen (it just snaps out for removal) and placing it in the dishwasher every time we run a load of dishes.

I truly can't sing the praises of this machine enough. We use it practically every night. Having the ability to fry food to a crisp without the use of oil or grease is a blessing for our health. Being able to cook dinner if we forgot to thaw something in advance makes meals a breeze, especially when you find a recipe during the day that you have everything on hand for, but one item is still in the freezer. 

Every time I walk into the kitchen and see my smart grill on the counter, I smile and ask myself that question again...how did we ever get along without you?

Of these things...

For as long as I can remember, I have felt myself pulled toward the unusual. What-you-could-call the out of the ordinary. Things others may not hold as truths. Esoterics. If our experiences shape our beliefs, then my experiences have created in me the ability to keep an open mind. To see possibilities. Because anything is possible.

I don't believe in coincidence. Well, now that's a handy little contradiction, isn't it? Anything is possible, but I don't believe in concidence. Okay--but here's the thing--I do believe in synchronicity. 

If you've been reading or following my journal, then you know I've had some unusual experiences in my life...okay, some may be an understatement because there have been many. Some I share and talk about, others I keep to myself. 

Everything happens for a reason, of that I am certain.

I'll just get to the point. I love animals, especially horses, cats and dogs. My top three. At the barn where I board my two horses we have several cats ranging in age from 15 years to 1 year. Hard to believe a barn cat in the country has lived 15 years with coyotes and speeding vehicles always near-by, but it's true. That's Sylvester, a big floofy tuxedo male; he's a survivor in every sense of the word. Sylvester's best bud is...or was...Mr. Thomas, a ginger tabby who came to live at the barn as a kitten with his gray tabby litter mate in 2009. Unfortunately a few months after moving in, the gray tabby disappeared--we don't know what happened to him, could be someone fell in love with him and took him home, or something else. We'll never know, he just disappeared.

But I digress. Back to Mr. Thomas, who began to show signs of his age this summer, losing weight and looking poorly as the weeks passed. Myself and two other boarders who share the responsibility of caring for our barn kitties did everything we could to help him gain weight; one gave him vegetable oil, I brought him canned cat food. For a short time he improved, but by the end of August he started losing weight again, he became lethargic, showed interest in food but ate very little. It was clear he wouldn't make it through the harsh winter weather. We started to worry that one day Thomas would just wander off the way cats do when it's their time. Neither of us wanted that for him, all things considered. And yet, I guess we three held on to a thread of hope that maybe we were wrong, and Thomas would improve. 

Thomas, July 2020. In better days, healthy and happy.

A couple of weeks ago, Thomas showed all the signs that it was time to make a difficult decision on his behalf. He had no interest in food, appeared to be extremely weak, and his eyes were dull and empty. After encouraging him to eat something, unsuccessfully, and giving his boney body some extra pets and love, I stepped away knowing it was time. Before I left the barn for home, I turned and gave Thomas one last look. It broke my heart. I contacted my barn kitty caretaker team and we all agreed. The next day, Monday, September 20, while I was at work they took him to the vet to put an end to his suffering. Sometime between 12:30 and 3:10 Thomas crossed the rainbow bridge. Being at work, hearing the news was difficult. I closed my office door and wept for the loss of my sweet ginger boy. Silly I know, but he was such a love-bug and very picky about making friends with people.

My work place is downtown in a non-residential area. Next door is city hall, and the next block over is the county court house and city police department. That day I left work at 5:00 p.m. as I have nearly every day for the last five years. Before I reached my vehicle, with thoughts of Thomas on my mind, I glanced up momentarily and something caught my eye, then stopped me in my tracks. My heart leapt. I pulled my mobile phone out of my purse, switched on the camera and took a photo. Sitting next to the city hall building was a cat. Not just any cat, but a big, ginger tabby cat who closely resembled Mr. Thomas. 

For five years I have walked out of that building at least twice a day, and in all those days I have only seen that ginger tabby cat once (maybe a year ago). The irony wasn't lost on me. I lingered for a moment before walking on to my vehicle. Once inside, I shared the photo I took with my two barn kitty caretaker teammates. The consensus was clear. This was Thomas, letting me know he was fat and happy.

The ginger cat who appeared to me just hours after Thomas crossed the rainbow bridge.

Oddly enough the cat who appeared was a manx, which really means nothing, until you consider the fact that one of the two women who took Thomas to the vet that day also has a manx cat at home. A ginger tabby manx. When I told her the cat I saw outside my work was also a manx, she replied "That's his nod to me that it's ok." I smiled at her reply, then looked up from my mobile phone, but the cat had disappeared. Probably off to do cat stuff.

I think about Thomas every day. I know Sylvester misses his friend, those first few days it saddened me to see Syl sitting alone, waiting for me with that question in his eyes. Where is my friend? We hope he will buddy up with one of the younger kitties but so far he prefers to be alone. 

The world is full of possibilities. Do you notice those little things that happen every day? Those nuances that could bring joy, wisdom, or maybe just a sense of peace to your soul. Open your heart, pay attention, hone your awareness. Sometimes it's those little glimpses, appearing in the blink of an eye, that may carry a small message. A message just for you. A message you didn't know you needed in that moment, that could make all the difference for the rest of your days. You won't forget those moments, and you won't regret the awareness. 

Life is pretty amazing when you stop and look around you.