STRAWBERRY SALAD DRESSING

So many changes here at Lori's.  As you can tell I have been off my 'game', unable to keep up with the demands of this blog as I learn to balance, children, career, home, marriage, friends... Yeah! I am struggling.  As I know many of you are with the same issues.  I know I am not alone in this boat.  Or maybe it is a ship, as the people on board are vast in numbers.  Mostly women.  Not that there are not men who "do it all".  If my husband was reading this, he'd say, what?  Of course I do a lot.  And he does, but ladies, you know, it ain't the same.  We pick up the slack on things like the kids doctors visits to whose cleaning up the dog mess.  Seriously! I don't want to get into the whole gender thing cause this is not what this post is about.

What's it about?  My absence and the changes and hopefully somewhere in this verbiage, what can be done about 'balance'.  I hate to sound all depressing here but balance is an enigma. When you really look at it, it flies in the face of reality.  Before you can ever reach balance, you have to strip away things from your life to simplify.  You can keep 100 balls flying in the air.  Maybe you can manage 5.  Maybe it's 3.  Be fair to yourself.  Don't be hard on yourself.  You can not create balance and 'om' with so much to do.  Sometimes in life, you will need to run from fire to fire.  Managing the flames so they don't scorch anyone.  Goodness.

Be kind to yourself.  There is so much on your plate these days.  We have so many conveniences and opportunities but the list of choices is giant.  Your time needs to be put on a budget.  Let me speak in first person here.  Let's do the calculations here. There are 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week. That's 168 hours.  Less sleeping time, and I like to get 8 if I can (and really we all should strive for nearly that). That's 56 hours.

168 hours
- 58 sleep time
110
- 35 work hours for me
75
-5 for commute
70
-16+ household chores, cooking, cleaning, gardening, etc. (also very conservative)
54
-3  errands, grocery shopping, banking, oil changes (this is definitely a conservative figure.)
51
-4  personal grooming, showers, blow drying hair, make up, etc
47
-3  exercise (yes, I know, this should be mroe, but right now I am nursing a sore knee)
44
That's a little over 6 hours a day. Most of that time chiming in on the weekend.  Thinking of no other obligations, like children and parents, this is how many hours are left to do whatever.  To balance your hobbies, spending time with the people you love, reading a bool, taking a class, whatever.  It goes real fast so you have to spend it wisely.

Okay so I didn't tackle what to do about balance.  Except maybe have an appreciation for all I do and give myself a break.  I want to keep Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness going.  I am going to do my best.

Here is a way to spend less than five minutes to make yourself a seriously wholesome and tasty salad dressing that will be sure to please you while you are eating your next salad.

STRAWBERRY SALAD DRESSING
It s a decent thickness but if you want to set it up a little add a teaspoon of chia seeds.

¼ cup olive oil
½ cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
5 good size strawberries, stems removed
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
½ teaspoon salt

In a blender combine all ingredients and blend until emulsified.  I didn't even drizzle in oil, didn't need to.  Put it in my Magic Bullet and boom! Done! And it stayed emulsified.