Zest & Aplomb

What’s Your Type? Learning About Enneagram Types

Learning About Enneagram Types

A few weeks ago, we featured Susan Olesek and her Enneagram Prison Project (EPP). Today, EPP Ambassador, Enneagram teacher and certified life coach Sue Lambert gives us an overview of the Enneagram Types. As EPP’s mission is to teach people ‘what’s right about you,’ Sue offers a glimpse at some of the best qualities for each of the nine types.

What is the Enneagram?

The Enneagram is a well-established psychological tool that diagrams the chief virtues that form each individual’s essence and the typical ways our egos tend to act, cope, defend and relate to others. There are three centers of intelligence within us: body, heart and head. Each of these centers contains three subtypes. We all have a little of all nine Enneagram Types, but one of those areas acts as our “home base.” We won’t go in-depth today, but we teach the Enneagram triads in our EPP courses, which dig deeper into each Type’s predictable patterns. Once you know your Type, you’ll be amazed to know masses of other people go through life in ways strikingly similar to you.

April 29, 2021 by Gwen Dawkins

Lifestyle

Alcohol — Don’t Mind If I Do

By Cheryl Ryan

I like drinking alcohol. It feels like a ritual at the end of my day. Whether it’s a warm summer evening or cold winter night, it feels satisfying. Hopefully, it’s a celebration of a productive day but even if it’s been a terrible, miserable, awful day, it feels like I’m leaving it behind and looking towards the next.

Like many, our household contributed handsomely to skyrocketing alcohol sales in 2020. Even when we couldn’t find toilet paper, Clorox wipes or flour we could always find our wine and whiskey.

COVID aside, my husband and I have a pattern. He quits drinking, for the past 20 years, on December 26th for up to 3 months. Don’t ask me why he chose that date, all I know is that I have a driver for New Years’. Then we both start back up with light drinking, gaining speed during the long summer evenings and ending with a riotous crescendo each holiday season. Honestly, we’re both so ready to slow down by the end of every year.

April 22, 2021 by Cheryl Ryan

Using edible flowers if food presentation.

Create

When Life Gives You Lemons — Make Lemon Cake

By Cheryl Ryan

Weekly Roundup

Seriously, make this lemon cake with the last of the fresh lemons from your local farmer’s market or the few still hanging on your tree. It’s really good.

If you’ve been wondering what to plant this spring you may want to consider a few edible flowers. It’s amazing how using a couple of flowers in your food presentation can go a long way. I’m kind of partial to lavender, pansies or nasturtium.

The Academy Awards are on April 25th this year and here is the list of nominees in case you want to watch them all before placing your bets this weekend.

Earth Day is April 22nd and here are a few green home tips and NASA is hosting a series of Earth events that day.

April 19, 2021 by Cheryl Ryan

Create

Welcome to The Hen House — My Chicken Coop & Run

By Gwen Dawkins

A few weeks ago, I told you about my new baby chicks. Well, guess what? At four weeks old, they’ve grown so fast, I just moved them into the coop with their heat lamp. If you’ve decided to get chicks, it’s time to think about your coop if you don’t already have one. Depending on your local weather, chicks can move into the coop at three to seven weeks.

There are tons of ready-made coops and kits. They are easy to find at feed and hardware stores. You can also find them on Amazon and on Craigslist. Another blog, The Spruce, shared this nice roundup of The 8 Best Chicken Coops of 2021.

April 12, 2021 by Gwen Dawkins

Wellness

Are You Ready To Show Your Pearly Whites Again?

By Cheryl Ryan

As we approach ditching our masks and flashing our pearly whites around town, I notice that my chompers are looking grayer than I’d like. I hadn’t really kept up on whitening my teeth before COVID but during this year the grey tones seem to have darkened.

So it’s been surprising to find a wide range of new teeth whitening technologies, especially for sensitive teeth, since my last product search.

There is GLO (guided light optics) which uses a combination of light and heat trays to accelerate a hydrogen peroxide gel that you apply to the teeth. This one is pretty pricy but highly rated. There are quite a few convenient hydrogen peroxide pens available. The interesting takeaway for me is that hydrogen peroxide seems to have overtaken baking soda as the preferred teeth cleaning compound.

April 10, 2021 by Cheryl Ryan

Lifestyle

Happy Weekend

By Cheryl Ryan

If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a funny commercial fan. This one came up on social this week and made me chuckle.

It’s time to put away our winter fashion and dig out those spring clothes. I didn’t really understand the difference between slow vs fast fashion and found this description cool.

I watched this movie and it made me throw out all my Teflon pans and look at new porcelain and cast iron cookware. I bought a cast iron pan which is super reasonable but my seasoning skills need some work. I also bought this porcelain skillet, which is a great pan but kind of expensive. I’m looking at these for more size options and better pricing.

If you’re celebrating with a meal this weekend, how good does this brunch dish or gorgeous risotto look?

For the last several years, I’ve been reading more non-fiction than I’ve ever read in my life. I’ve learned a lot but am so ready for some fiction. I’m really enjoying The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah and This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

How are you starting fresh this spring season?

April 3, 2021 by Cheryl Ryan

Create

Happy Spring! Meet My New Baby Chicks

By Gwen Dawkins

We’ve added some new girls to our family and they are pretty darn cute. I’m starting a new flock for my backyard chicken hobby. This will be my second batch. And, to be honest, I’m excited to start anew. After the last year and a half, bringing new life home feels very good right now. A few months ago, I reluctantly let my remaining three chickens from my previous flock “go for a ride,” with an acquaintance –– no questions asked. As it turns out, chickens only lay for about three years. I’d had mine for a little more than four years –– so they remained pets — just not the cuddly kind. I know from my other friends who raise chickens, introducing new chicks or chickens to an existing flock is tough. Pecking order is real! So I decided to start an entirely new flock.

March 29, 2021 by Gwen Dawkins

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