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Things we never knew we needed
Everyday, we learn new things -- whether we want to or not. And today, I am here to help. Life is full of information we never knew, ideas we never considered, opinions we never recognized.
Relax, we're not going to go that deep. Instead, we'll look at things out there in the big, wide world that you never knew you needed and may just wonder how you got by in the world without them.
* What am I supposed to do with that stuff?
That may be the first thought when a person see kefir. A little thicker than milk and a little thinner than yogurt, kefir is a cultured, enzyme-rich food filled with friendly micro-organisms that help balance your "inner ecosystem."
In other words, it's has living things in it that should help a person stay healthy -- if they can stand the site of pouring something as thick as toothpaste onto cereal. (I have forgotten to shake the bottle up before pouring and the curds and slime which oozed out nearly canceled any health benefits I was going to receive.)
Along with its health qualities, kefir has an additional bonus: Any body can make it, once you have a starter kit and instruction manual. That's right. It's like your DVD player. Kefir can provide hours of entertainment and has as much background and as many instructions as the remote for your DVD player.
Actually, it's a just a few grains added to milk and then left until it grows or turns or ripens, whatever sounds most appealing, into kefir. Then a little bit of that mixture is added to more milk and the process just continues as long as you want to make kefir.
At this point, we can't actually buy kefir in our immediate area. I have to travel hundreds of miles for my ready-to-chug supply or use my bottle of grains supplied from an aunt in Kansas City. Putting this item on your list of things you must have it going to require a little bit of work.
* They're everywhere. They're everywhere.
You've seen them on people's feet and maybe didn't know what they were called. You seen the numerous racks in shoe stores and maybe didn't know why people would wear them. Either way, they are everywhere.
Of course, I'm talking about Crocs and not just cowboy boots made out of the reptiles.
Crocs are those rubber/plastic/foam slip-on shoes that do absolutely nothing aesthetically pleasing for anyone's feet.
If you have petite feet, the shoes will make them look the size of the corresponding shoe box. If you have larger feet, they are going to look, well, larger yet.
And everyone is wearing them from health professionals in the standard white to elementary students who seem to favor those flattering colors of neon orange and lime green.
Several of my children own them, which makes putting on shoes easier but has eliminated the need to learn the art of tying one's shoes.
Having tried them on, I must admit Crocs are comfortable even if they did make my feet look like a cousin of the Titanic.
My real aversion to the shoes actually stems from my abhorrence of anything worn by everyone else. In college, everyone or perhaps just 98 percent of the student body wore Birkenstocks. While these are another type of comfortable shoes still very popular today, I cannot bring myself to wear them simply because everyone else owns them.
I'm more likely to favor wooden clogs because you won't find them on anyone else's feet -- at least not yet.
* Really, how did I live without this?
I am not making this up. The triangle, metal dinner bell had arrived in the mail four hours earlier and had been hung up on the porch for an entire two hours before it was used for the first time.
Even if the item has been around for centuries and was likely used somewhere near here during cattle-moving days, it is still new to me and the metal triangle will have a permanent place on my front porch for years to come.
Plus, it was one of my family's best purchases. For some reason, my children can't hear me yelling that dinner is ready at the top of my lungs when they are playing outside, but they come skipping along merrily at the sound of the dinner bell.