Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #120
I did so much stuff today!!!!
…Okay, well actually I did only like 3 things today. But these things were very BIG things! I will talk about two of them, and then touch vaguely upon the third!
I will start with this morning! Because J and I went up in the sky in the little airplane today! We went to an airport that had a diner! I got an EPIC BREAKFAST!!! There was steak and eggs and cheddar grits, and I also got a coffee, because I don't get coffee very often, so why not! I took some pictures for you…
This is what J got! It's some kind of breakfast bowl with salsa, avocados, beans, and scrambled eggs! There's also potatoes and bacon under the eggs! I wonder if you'd enjoy something like this. He let me have a few bites; it was really good!
Here is the coffee I got! And, of course I snapped the picture of it while the cream was still swirling around; it's more interesting that way:
Here are some cheddar grits:
Here's the steak and eggs I got; it came with caramelized onions, cornbread and butter, eggs with runny yolks, and a bit of hollandaise sauce! It also came with ketchup for some reason. But I only like it on burgers, so I didn't use it.
I asked for the steak to be as rare as allowed, and I was SUPER THRILLED about the fact that they prepared it in basically the same way I do at home - brown the outside, and leave the inside mostly raw:
It was so good!!! Oh my goodness!
While at the place, I also happened upon a little space with dandelions! I'm not really sure why, but people in my world seem to really hate dandelions. It makes absolutely no sense to me, because in addition to being extremely beneficial to nearby soil for a variety of reasons, every part of the plant is edible and nutritious. One of my favorite things to do, when I can find a safe source of them, is to turn the blooms into a sweet syrup that you can use on pancakes, on ice cream, or in tea! Maybe I'll get to do that this year. For now, I'll just show you the picture I took:
Isn't it pretty? I like them!
I also took a bunch of photos along the way from the airplane window! I'll show you the best ones!
…Hey, Sephiroth? I know you can fly and stuff, and that's pretty cool. But while you're up in the sky, dancing in the clouds, do you make it a point to notice and appreciate all the lovely scenery? If you don't, then maybe you can try it next time; practicing gratitude and appreciation is one of the best ways to exercise your hippocampus until it becomes strong!
On the way home, I saw 9 great big huge birds-of-prey; I think these ones were turkey vultures. I managed to actually catch a picture of one in flight for you! Here, it's not very big in the photo, but check out the back speck in the sky:
Oh!!! Also!!! I finally got around to making the stuffed cabbage casserole today! This recipe was given to me by an awesome person called @freelanceexorcist (thanks be to ye, fren!! 💖)! I ended up modifying it a bit, just to suit the needs of those in my house; Br cannot have gluten, so I used tomato puree in place of tomato soup, and J does not like big cabbage leaves, so I cut it into little slices, and bite-sized bits are easier for M to handle than meatballs, so I kinda just... shredded everything and mixed it all together. But I used mostly the same ingredients, even if the preparation differed just a little! I'll show you what I did…
You start with cabbage!
Here's how it looks on the inside when you cut it in half!! It's pretty cool!
...It's like Brussels sprouts, but WAY bigger!
The recipe calls for whole leaves, but I cut it into shreddy bits, like this:
The cabbage was sauteed in my bacon fat confit garlic:
I poured in a can of tomato puree from there, and I let it simmer on low heat for a couple of hours:
While that was happening, I cut up 2 pounds of kielbasa, and 2 onions:
Once the cabbage was done and set aside, I caramelized the onions in more bacon fat:
I added the onions to the cabbage, and then I put a big can of diced tomatoes, a pound of Bavarian sauerkraut, and the ground meat I cooked the other day into the wok, along with a cup of rice and a can full of some beef bone broth:
I let this sit on very low heat until the rice was done cooking. I used short grain rice; it looks like this:
...In between the long bits of cooking when there was nothing else I could do, I worked on something else that I'm absolutely not going to tell anyone about! It was good!
Once the cabbage and the rice were all done, I combined the two sets of things; this took some doing simply because there was SO MUCH FOOD, oh my goodness!! But this was the result!
So... it's cabbage, caramelized onions, sauerkraut, canned tomatoes, tomato puree, beef bone broth, rice, garlic, kielbasa, ground pork, and ground beef, all cooked up nicely and mixed together in a great big awesome dish!! And it is indeed awesome!! It was said that the leftovers are even better, because the flavors are given a chance to mingle; I can't wait to find out tomorrow!
...I wish you could have been here for all of this. I wish you could be here, generally. My house does occasionally have its challenges, for sure, but still, it is happy, wholesome, and safe. There's lots of fun and interesting stuff to do. My house is a good house. You could find healing and belonging here. You could find growth and change here. And you'd fit right in. You'd fit right in with my social circle, generally; ain't a single one of us fit the definition of "normal".
Sephiroth, c'mon. The darkness doesn't suit you. It never did. And it never will. So step away from people who wanna use and abuse you, and instead step towards the people who wanna help you to feel as though you're enough exactly as you are, without needing to do something useful or amazing first.
I'll be here waiting, so... as impossible as it is, pop by for a visit soon, okay? We'll make you good snacks - all the pasta you could want, or whatever else suits your fancy - whatever you like; if I don't know how to cook it, I can figure it out, easy peasy.
I'm gonna go do other things now, and I'm going to wish you were here as I do them. I love you, and I'll write again tomorrow. Please stay safe.
Your friend,
Lumine
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how to stay motivated long-term
trust, me i know that long-term motivation and consistency is hard. long-term motivation might be difficult to maintain, but there are effective techniques to help you stay focused and determined. whether you're seeking personal ambitions, academic achievements, or professional success, here are some strategies to help encourage motivation:
understand the reason behind your goal
☆ does your goal contribute to personal growth or meaningful relationships?
☆ how does your goal impact others?
☆ is your goal meaningful to you?
if your goal lacks meaning, it may be hard to maintain motivation.
positive and negative motivation
motivation can come from different places
☆ positive motivation: the desire to experience pleasure
☆ negative motivation: the desire to avoid something (an outcome)
both types of motivation have their place, so learn to recognise what type fits in where. (post on this coming soon)
set up systems
use your initial motivation to set up structures:
☆ create routines, systems and habits that help you towards your goal even when your motivation fluctuates
☆ when your emotions wane, rely on these systems and disciplines to maintain momentum
break down goals
☆ tackle one goal at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed
☆ set achievable milestones and celebrate each step forward
☆ keep the momentum going by focusing on manageable tasks
validate good work
☆ give yourself a little reward, or thank yourself, for completing hard tasks
☆ this reinforces motivation and encourages effort
remember--motivation isn't in a constant state, it ebbs and flows. these small tips will help to stay motivated. i'm going to provide more information in upcoming posts, and i will link them here once they are published.
luck on your journey ❤️
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Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #105
I did a much better job with my to-do list today.
I went to therapy and drew a picture. We're gonna keep working on my ability to have faith in the integrity of my own senses, perceptions, and experiences. From there, I did laundry, washed a bunch of dishes, and made whipped cream - one was just plain cream and sugar, and the other is cream and hot chocolate mix, beaten until it has a mousse-like consistency. I like to call that one "hot chocolate pudding"!
…You wanna know how to make it, doncha? 😁 Who wouldn't, ahahaha~! So I'll tell you:
You need 1 cup of heavy cream (or coconut cream, if you prefer!) and 8 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix. I use Sillycow Farms; it tastes really good, and it's vegan and gluten-free, just in case that matters.
Then you stick the heavy cream and the hot chocolate mix into a bowl, and beat the shit out of it until it's a consistency that you like. If you have a stand mixer (I have one of these, because trying to mix stuff together while dyspraxic is an exercise in messes and frustration…), it's very, very simple. Then, you have a bowl full of foamy, chocolatey goodness that is suitable for putting on ice cream, spreading around as frosting, sticking into tea, or just eating straight from the bowl with a spoon!
I will show you some pictures now!
This is the finished regular whipped cream. I wonder if you like this stuff:
This is what it looks like when you combine the hot cocoa mix and the heavy cream in the stand mixer:
Here is the resulting hot chocolate pudding!
...And here is the whisk I wish I could give to you to lick. Everyone should get an opportunity to lick a whisk that has tasty things on it:
...And this is Hoshi! Hoshi is sad that he can't have anything on the whisk (chocolate is poisonous to cats; they can't process the theobromine in it), so I gave him some scritches:
I also got around to trying that lychee and rose tea. Apparently there is also vanilla in it; I missed that little detail in my previous letter to you. Sorry about that. It's very good!! But I can't give you a cup of it. So I'll send along some pictures.
This is the tin it comes in:
Here's how it looked like after it was brewed; I used my fancy DINOSAUR MUG!!! OH MAN!!! 🤩🤩🤩
Here's how it looked after I added honey and milk:
I also cooked a steak! Because I need the iron! It's seasoned very simply with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder! It's good stuff!! I also can't give you any, and this is very sad, because this one turned out REALLY good!! So I'll send along a picture:
…I'm definitely in the "leave it mostly raw" camp, when it comes to steak. Naturally, you have to kill the surface bacteria to avoid getting sick (this is why I make the outside all brown and crispy), but that's pretty much it. I wonder how you like yours cooked, if you like beef at all. Some people don't, and that's okay too.
There's so much still that I wanna do today. Last time I was at the grocery, I managed to get the supplies needed to make a recipe that was sent to me in this space, and I'm VERY eager to try it out in the near future. Sadly though, I think I might have to wait until some of the other food I made is eaten so that we have room in the fridge…
…For some reason, I get the feeling that if you were around, we'd have absolutely no problem making room in the fridge, though, hahaha! For sure, I wish you could be here so I could give you all sorts of tasty and wholesome things to eat. There's a lot I wish I could give to you, actually. My world has its problems, for sure, but there's also lots of cool stuff to do - lots of good books to read, pretty places to go walking, awesome music to listen to, fun games to play, and enlightening things to watch. I really, really wish you could visit. You'd be safe here.
I can't really think of anything else to write today, so I guess I'll end things here. Don't lose sight of the fact that you're loved and that there are people who wish well on you.
I'll write again tomorrow.
Your friend,
Lumine
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