The Empty Nest Kitchen

It's Only Money...Right?

• Christine Van Bloem • Season 2 • Episode 36

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A broken furnace during the coldest day of the year? It's time to dig out the blankies and snuggle in for choosing a positive outlook, even when your toes are cold. So much changes when you make the shift from constant complaining to finding gratitude, and this mini episode guides you through walking the walk.

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Review
00:43 Welcome to the Empty Nest Kitchen
01:08 Personal Anecdote: The Furnace Fiasco
02:13 Life's Challenges and Gratitude
03:36 Choosing Your Path
06:06 Positive Mindset and Personal Growth
09:51 Conclusion and Upcoming Events



Did you know that you can leave a podcast review? Sure can hear. Listen to this one. Christine has the most fascinating women want to tell their stories. Each episode is always a nugget of knowledge about navigating life. It's inspiring to hear how each of these women Christine included has reinvented their lives. Uh, great. Listen, that will leave you smiling and inspired to go after your goals. That one was left by pandas garage. What a great name? You also can leave a roof. You just go on. To your podcast app and feel free to click all those stars and leave a review. Let's get started.

Speaker:

Welcome to the Empty Nest Kitchen, where we're finding fun in the kitchen now that the kids have flown the coop. I'm Christine Van Bloem, a cooking teacher with over 25 years of experience, here to show you tips, tricks, and joy in your kitchen, all while trying something new. Let's get cooking!

Well, hello and happy day from absolutely. Frigid, Maryland, where I sit here. In nine degree weather and you may say, yeah, Chris, but you are inside. It is all good. Well, I don't know if you can hear the sounds in the background. Of my brand new furnace getting installed. But we lost all of our heat on our ground floor. We're still good upstairs though. It's fighting. Really hard, but it is a bird risk, 50 degrees in our living room and dining room. And to say that I have MacGyvered the bananas out of this situation. Would be a total understatement. And that is why I'm coming to you today with this little shorty episode. And again, you may be thinking why the heck do I care that this woman then I don't even know. Is talking to me about her furnace and I will tell you why, because. As a 57 year old woman who has been through stuff. And I am guessing that any woman has been through stuff, right? We are not unique and we are not special in that stuff goes wrong. And as we are getting older, More stuff goes wrong. We lose our parents. We lose our pets. We sometimes lose our friends. And that is one of the most painful things that I think he can have, but. Things happen. We lose spouses. People disappear from our lives. Things go haywire. Bank accounts get drained when, Hey, we're getting older. Aren't they supposed to get fatter now shouldn't they have$3 million in the bank because I want to think about retiring soon. All of this stuff happens to all of us. And the furnace going caput when the absolute coldest day of the year. Really made me think, as I pulled on my smart wool socks. About gratitude. And handling what comes our way. Because. I believe, that we are really in charge of choosing what path you go down. Do you guys remember that Robert Frost poem. And I know my husband, the English teacher. Basically is like he is so amateur. He is so basic, but Bubba. And I will agree. There are poets these days that speak with. You know, such meaning and ferocity, and it's a little more spelled out when you get to it. But remember that, that home two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry, I could not travel both. And be one traveler long. I stood and looked down. Both or maybe each as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth. When I was in high school, back in the eighties. That was set to music. And I could, I could sing it for you now, though. I don't think you want that. And we sang it at our high school graduation. And of course, when you are 17, everything hits you. Doubly triply as hard. Right. And you see, and you hear all of this deep, deep meaning in everything. And. Here 40 years later, I think about that and I sing it to myself a lot. And you have the choice like everyone does of choosing which way you go. So when all of this stuff that is bound to happen to us happens, which way are you going? Are you choosing path a. Which is the path where you are hurt. And you are grieving. And you can't quite recover from it. Where not only is the glass half empty, but who the hell took my water? Where. It becomes so easy. To descend into your own head of negative thinking. And oh, it's too cold to do this. Oh, I'm too fat to do this. Raised his hand. Or I, you know, this person did this to me or work is so bad and I can't get through it. And. Everything. Just starts becoming a complaint or becoming negative. Or. Are you the person. Who decides. I'm going to try to look on the bright side and sometimes, and a lot of times. You have to actually try it just doesn't come. Naturally. Yesterday. I was talking to my husband, John. And we got the. Costs for the new furnace and it is pricey, especially after putting on a new roof last month. And putting in a new water heater just a couple of weeks ago. And he was. You know, it's money, right? And I turned to him and I said, it's Mani. It's only money. I know, we wish we had more. I know it. But I got a mammogram yesterday and you know what? That sucker came out clean as a whistle. Oh, I love it. And I said, I will take. That I will take the hit financially. Over the hit medically. Any day of the week and we've taken hits, right? Medically we've really dealt with the stroke and the heart attack and my new stent and all of that good stuff. I'm like it's only money short$6,500, but the company we're working with, they showed up yesterday when it went out and they're here today, putting in the new furnace. How lucky are we? Right. So as you're going through your days, maybe these words sit with you. Maybe they don't. That's okay. You can tell a friend and maybe. Love to hear it. But. It. Isn't just what happens now. We're old enough. We get it. We have to figure out how we're going to react. In all of these situations. And I will say. Ever since a few years ago, when John said to me, the only thing you do is complain. And that struck me because. He's my person, right? He's my partner. We are a true team. And I realized that because he is my partner and because we are a team. I'm very comfortable talking to him about almost everything, right. So I could come home from a day at work and I could complain about it. And I could. Mention something that was going wrong. And I could talk about again and again, I'm a Virgo we get in our own heads. But. I didn't want to bring that energy to him. I didn't want that to be how he sees me. That I just complain all the time. So I made a really concerted effort. Two. Well, let's just put it bluntly. To get over myself. And as such, I'm not always perfect at it. I'm really not. But now that I have made it kind of a priority to look on that brighter side, to look at a student I have and know they're doing the best that they can. To look at. The house. I know that. I'm doing the best that I can and give my mom always tell me things happen in threes. So yeah. But. I am a much happier person. I am a much more fulfilled person and it doesn't mean that I don't have dark dark days because I do. And I still miss my mom and I still miss my dog. And sometimes I even miss my dad. But it's. It's just knowing that I am making the effort to be a more positive. Light in my own world and in the world of the people around me, and that has made all the difference. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back next week. And you can always remember checkout menopause meal plans. I have got a free. Masterclass on eating well for Perry post and menopause coming up in a couple of weeks. And I really hope you'll come. So thanks so much. And I'll see in the kitchen.