The Nifty Foodie

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A renewed me..

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I’ve been in such a funk lately, and I felt like nothing was going to change for me for a long time. Everyday was same ol’-same ol’ to me, and it was hard for me to see the positives and appreciate the little things. 

I think God realized this, and decided it was time to show me exactly how quickly I can change. I’m not super religious, so this isn’t going to be preachy, but it’s funny how things in life can be related directly to you. For me, it was our garden.

The same garden that no matter how many times I tried to water it to make it look better, it wilted.

Same thing went for my life, it seemed. I’d sew something, hugely mess up, and have to rip the seams, only to have the fabric itself rip…fail. The mess in our house was getting out of hand, and I had no motivation in me to clean it. I had no motivation in me to really do anything fun. I just wanted to sit on the couch and be lazy. Things were bad, and I needed an intervention.

Well folks, it rained Saturday…literally poured.  Sunday, it rained…Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday..all rain. It was getting a little depressing after a while, and I just was in a funk, until Thursday.

Thursday was a wonderful day. Thursday’s surprises shook me and made me realize that while things might look bad for a while, things can change for the better. It takes something drastic, like, say, a 4 day rainstorm, but things can most definitely change.

Staring at the garden yesterday helped me to realize just that. We have a tree full of baby lemons. That same tree last week had no flowers, full of dead/burnt baby lemons. The rain jolted it awake, and it’s just looking more alive than ever.

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The first jalapeno showed up on our pepper plant. The same pepper plant that was looking fairly pathetic next to the bell peppers and tomatoes.

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The tomatoes exploded in size, and the plants are thriving…pesticide free still. (Thank you companion plants).

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The hydrangea that never bloomed last year is showing signs of life.

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I even got a complete surprise in my garden. A begonia I never planted, in the middle of a garden full of dianthus. I thought it was a weed 4 days ago, but it bloomed into a little surprise. 🙂

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Looking at our garden has made me realize that yes, things can look bad in life for a while. Just don’t avert your eyes away from the little surprises that are trying to give you a chance to change that outlook. 🙂

Do split ends attract crude?

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So, in case you are living in a cave, there was an oil rig explosion right off of the Louisiana coastline. 11 people died and many were injured. Working in the oil industry is a scary, scary thing.

My own father works for an oil refinery, and I worry for him constantly. In 1988, his plant had an explosion and apparently, all that was left of his office were oil splattered family pictures. He was due for work a few hours later. It’s scary and incredibly sad, so I’m constantly praying for those families who lost someone that day.

Now, there are millions of gallons of crude spewing through the Gulf of Mexico. Sure, it’s not Hurricane Katrina, but fishermen are losing their jobs, wildlife is dying and our fragile wetlands are diminishing at a faster rate.

Oh, and by the way, it’s almost June 1st. Hello hurricane season, Have mercy on Louisiana, because the last thing we need is the crude stirred up and brought further into land.

Ok, so now that I’ve lectured y’all,  there are ways to help. We’re all really limited though. It’s not like we can all just go out to the Gulf and help wildlife or personally stop the oil spewing out of the ocean floor.

You can donate your hair. Weird suggestion, but in fifth grade, I got a quart of crude oil to do a science experiment. I used human hair (got a haircut for the sake of a science ribbon), bird feathers (we had a bird house in our yard and well, there were feathers everywhere), spanish moss (hello, swamp!), and plant leaves. In the end, human hair and bird feathers (sadly) were most absorbent of the crude oil.

So, yes, hair really works, and salons are donating hair to make mats to absorb the crude. Also, PetSmart grooming salons are donating pet hair too. (Millie definitely needs a trim, too!) I found a salon near me that will donate hair, and I haven’t cut my hair since last June. So, needless to say, I hope my split ends can absorb oil.

Hair Clippings

I had about 3-4 inches to donate (depending on the outgrown layers) and wow, it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I feel good about knowing that my hair, which is never long enough for Locks of Love, will actually benefit something so close to home.

Just ignore my 6th grader pimple face and focus on the meticulously styled coif. 🙂

New Hair Cut

Oh, also if you buy Dawn soap, there are codes on the bottle to enter online to donate $1 to cleaning birds. Easy enough..feel good about doing your dishes. I know I hate doing them, but heck, buying Dawn at least makes me feel sort of happy using up the soap. 🙂

Are any of you in the affected areas with the oil spill? Are you as worried as me?

Babies

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I love babies. I love kids. I want kids….someday. Just not today or anytime soon, for that matter.

Ever since the wedding, my husband and I have had the questions/subtle/not so subtle hints as to when we’re bringing a baby into this world. It’s almost expected that once you get married, you are expected to have kids. Most married people sympathize, understand and are rolling their eyes thinking of the last time it happened to them.

It’s not just relatives and friends. It’s sometimes even strangers…people who don’t really know us, but think, just because we’re married, I’m now basically a uterus. A body part that will incubate and grow a baby. At baby showers, my belly gets stared at, as if I’m about to burst out and admit that I’m pregnant. What I want to SCREAM is “Nope, there’s nothing in there but an excessive amount of fat, people!”

I might be considered selfish. Heck, I spent 5 years in college studying a field dominated by men. You don’t see too many women kicking ass and taking names in my field. It’s a newer IT field too, so currently, the more I know and the faster I learn it, the better off I am, career wise. I don’t really WANT to take a few months out of this career driven momentum that I have to take care of a child.

Also, I’m scared. I babysat for years, but to know that I’m 1 of 2 people who will carry the most potential influence in this child’s life, scares me. I mess up a lot, and I think I need a little while to mature and be fully ready for this. 

I’m also scared for my and my future child’s health at my current weight. I’ve been told that I would be high risk, very possibly develop gestational diabetes and heck, adding weight to my current frame, I would be VERY sluggish. I’m already fairly sluggish feeling. It would be wrong for me to carry a child at my current weight. I’d much rather be healthier, providing the most optimum conditions in my body to grow/birth a baby.

So, here’s my apology to the strangers, family, friends…I do not expect to be pregnant anytime soon. Trust me, I’ll let you know when the test comes out positive.

Lackadaisical funk

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Now, that’s a big word for such a boring blog post. I learned the word, lackadaisical in 6th grade. I’m sure you all were tortured through weekly vocabulary lessons where you learned words that would barely stick with you past a week. Lackadaisical stuck with me. Not for it’s actual meaning really, but because when I was in 6th grade, I loved daisies.

Most of my lifestyle at home is fairly lackadaisical lately. I work for 8 hours, making maps, and I come home to do what seems like barely anything. It’s lame — really lame.

I remember having a post-it calendar completely full of meetings, classes, projects to work on, deadlines to meet. Now, it’s empty and fairly flexible to get things done. I’ve tried to make goals for myself, but they really no longer interest me.  

It’s so weird that I’m polar opposite in my career. I try to impress, want to learn more and constantly explore the software to teach myself new things, to eventually get a GISP.

I wish I could find the drive to sew more, blog more, clean more or even care enough to not let my puppy get away with too much.

How do you get out of a funk like this? Are you in a lackadaisical funk when it comes to home life?

P.S. Just a word from the last post about my dSLR, I would like to thank the hubs for driving 1 hour out of his way to get me my dSLR camera on major clearance. He wanted a shout-out here, so here’s his shout-out! Go hubs. 🙂

9 months later..

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No, there’s no baby secret here. It’s been a little over 9 months since my husband and I got married. Yeah, time really is flying!

So, way back in the engaged days, we met with my photographer who had these GORGEOUS sample albums. I had no idea where she got them from, but my cheap self didn’t want to ask since she designed them (Sorry Amanda for my cheapness…). So, I googled the heck out of flush mount albums and found these.

I was still feeling cheap, so I couldn’t buy these on any old website. No sirree…I checked eBay and found ONE. One 8×10 10 page album (holds 20 photos) for $35. Talk about lucky….I was ecstatic and bought it up!

After the wedding, I knew that I wanted to print out 8×10’s for this album, but heck, I was broke and the price of 8×10’s on Mpix, which was recommended by my photographer, were WAY too high.

Fast forward nine months, I get an AWESOME email from Mpix saying 8×10’s are 50% off!!! So, I did not hesitate to print 20 8×10’s for $30 total. I printed them on metallic paper, because I’ve ordered those before and I think it just makes the colors POP. It’s not super metallic, just slightly shimmery. 🙂 I highly recommend printing pictures on that paper through Mpix. They have great sales pretty often on printing too!

So, just a disclaimer, I’m not good at taking beautiful pictures of albums, so just imagine these 1000 times prettier. They totally are!

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I’m so glad to have finally finished this book. Since we don’t have a coffee table, it’s resting soundly on the mantle against the wall behind a wedding figurine we got. I can’t wait to show this beauty off! 🙂

Thank You Mall Shoppers

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I am sooo happy to be a part of a society where people are so quick to judge. (sarcasm) Just yesterday, I forgot one of the MAIN reasons I hate shopping: people judge.

I’m obese. I know it, but I also know that I’m a person just like you. This especially applies to the people who were shopping at American Eagle yesterday as I went in there with my sister who is a size 6. Thank you Mr. Manager for asking how my day was, and offering to help me, despite probably noticing that I am NOT the proper size to fit in your clothing. However, to the girls who gave me side eye when I would look at a shirt (for my sister’s bday, mind you), I am a person too. I’m not a freak of nature, although people like you try to make it evident that I do not belong in your SUPER special regular sized clothing store.

I remember in college this was a frequent aspect of shopping at the mall with friends. I’m the big girl of the group, but I would go shopping with my friends who fit in smaller sizes and offer a “yay”/”nay” on the outfit. That’s just what friends do. I’d get the stares all the time when looking through shirts for my friend who wore an XS or asking the associate if they had this in her size. Oh MAN, the look on the employee’s face when I would ask that.

I got the stares ALL the time, especially in places like Hollister or the horribly over-scented Abercrombie where I had to suck in to get past all the racks in the store (enter humiliation). Not to mention, I’m 5’11”, a towering giant in a sea of shorter women. So, I’m easily noticed.

By the time all my friends were done shopping, they’d offer to go with me to Lane Bryant. I was already just drained and depressed from being the fat girl in the group of friends who couldn’t buy that super cute cardigan that my friend got to buy, so I’d just offer a “thanks, but I have enough clothes” line. A little white lie.

For those of you who are quick to judge people who aren’t of normal size, seriously, think about what you are doing. Most of the time, people my size have NO self esteem and really, are we bothering you that much? It’s not like I’m bumping into you or doing anything to bother you because of my size. Just seriously, I’m a person too. Please try to remember that.

Our Trip to Houston

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For the long Mardi Gras weekend, my husband and I planned a fun little vacation to Houston, TX. I’m from New Orleans, and to me, Mardi Gras is very repetitive, so it was OK to take a year out from it. Plus, with the Saints winning, I didn’t want to go near that madness. (No, I’m not a bitter Manning fan. I’ve embraced “Who Dat?”, OK?)

While I did miss giving random shout-outs to clarinet players in the marching bands (about 10 years playing that instrument, holla!) in parades, I think this trip was well worth it. You see, it snowed (a lot) on Thursday night/Friday morning. So, whenever it snows, a lot of places shut down. No work…ever! So, since we asked off Friday, it kind of became a freebie for taking leave since the offices were closed anyway (SCORE!)!

However, this meant we had to leave as early as we could. The only way out of the city is a pretty high bridge that ices easily, so we had to beat the State Police before they closed it. We did. FREEDOM!

I geeked out during the drive and continued to cross-stitch. (Yep, still working on that..and the baby is now 4 months old…eesh!) Hubs doesn’t like it when I zonk out on a road trip, so I kept myself occupied. 4.5 hours later, we were in Houston!

On our first night, we decided to try Goode Co. Texas BBQ after multiple recommendations from locals. I will say this, the meat is seriously on-point…NOM! However, the sauce? It’s a confusing fusion of italian and BBQ that is just NOT right to me. Tasted like spaghetti sauce with a slight smokey flavor. Meh..that ain’t BBQ peeps…learn from Luther’s (darn you Luther’s for closing after Katrina hit!!).

On the second day, we went to Dave and Busters. We usually LOVE this place. I go nuts over the machines. However, this time, $50 of food and “fun” later, I felt ripped off. It was lame.

We went to visit the hubs’ cousins, who live in Houston and they took us out for our first Houston Tex-Mex experience: Gringo’s. Very fair priced and yummy food! I had a HUGE margarita for $8, and felt pretty tipsy after that. Such a lightweight. The highlight of that restaurant? There is a soft serve machine (ice cream) that you can load up on for free as you are leaving the restaurant!! The low point? When a manager walked up to our table and asked me what I was doing with these 3 attractive men on the night before V-day? Hubs flaunted his ring and was like uh no, she’s mine. Manager looked at me like I was some man-izer wearing an LSU t-shirt and jeans…nice.

On Valentine’s Day, the hubs and I did a little more shopping. We went to his electronic heaven, Fry’s and then to my spice heaven, Penzeys. Sigh…that store smelled GOOD! For lunch, we tried the infamous Red Robin. Oh yeah, those burgers are YUMMY!

Afterwards, we lounged a little while and planned to go across the street for $3 margaritas and more tex-mex. Let’s just say 8:30pm Valentine’s Day evening is not a good time to try a new restaurant…the parking garage was packed so we left! We ended up at Jack in the Box and I, with my sore (read: no Valentine’s day restaurant dinner) attitude, ate curly fries. This is coming from the person who isn’t a fan of V-day..why did I let it get to me? UGH…

Our last day, Lundi Gras/President’s Day, we went to JoAnn’s for the President’s Day sale. Hubs found me a 20% off the whole purchase coupon and I went nuts on these patterns (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) since they were $1 each, afterall (80 cents after coupon). A steal, indeed! After that, we went to IKEA to get me an organizer for all my sewing goodies. The battle I’m having assembling this damn thing is blog-worthy.

We decided to go to the $3 margarita place for a late lunch, and we’re so glad we did! The restaurant had lunch menu prices and was not crowded at all! Plus, we used a free appetizer coupon, since it wasn’t a “holiday” anymore. Squee!

Dinner was uneventful…Mickey D’s. We were just tired..and food was getting pricey in Houston!

We left to go home on Mardi Gras, and let me tell you, the minute we got to Baton Rouge, we realized how much we missed Houston….stupid Baton Rouge traffic!

In case you were wondering about our 4-legged friend, she stayed in New Orleans with my folks, including their 10 year old lab, Dixie. Millie made her feel young again haha! They apparently played and Millie learned a little training too with a good example at her side! Check it out…just too cute! Just ignore my dorky giggling over the fact that they are going nuts over these little treats that my mom has!

40 days…

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As a Catholic, I’ve always become familiar with Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. I’m not very extreme in my religion, but I do give up meat on Fridays (and Ash Wednesday), attend church and give up something that I am shamelessly addicted to for 40 days.

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This year, I’m giving up soda. Simple sounding but seriously, that stuff gets me through my workday!

In addition to giving up one thing, I’m also LIMITING my fun money spending to $30/week. This includes coffee shop purchases, craft shop purchases, clothing, hair, etc.

I usually allot myself $50/week to spend however the heck I want, but that extra $20/week will go to the church instead. I’m sure they’ll spend it much better than I would have. 

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I also hope my  Crafting it Forward project brings a few smiles during the Lenten season to my readers. Today is the last day to enter for that!

What are you doing during the Lenten season?

Some kind of wonderful…

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Three weeks ago, I remember walking into a dog boarding place to pick you up. Boy, did you catch my husband’s eye! Your picture was online, from an adoption agency called Yelp that helps to link great dogs to people who want a pet! Hubs thought you were perfect for us, and me being a dog lover, I was smitten too.

We brought you home, and you slept on my lap the whole car ride. I was sure you had to potty, but I remember the fosters telling us you couldn’t go outside for some reason. We had no puppy pads, so I went out alone really quick to PetSmart while the hubs watched you and held you. Poor thing, you couldn’t wait, so he tried to make you go in the bath tub. You were scared, so he put you down on the floor and you ended up going on the tile floor…no biggie. 🙂

I remember measuring out your Science Diet food (which we have changed out for higher ranked food since then), and watching you eat it faster than an alligator on a slab of meat. Competitive, I thought…I guess you and your siblings fought for food.

I remember afterwards, you started showing a little love for snuggling to my leg. Sigh…I think at that point I was in love.

You were pretty shy at first. I remember how you reacted to meeting my husband’s family. You were a little scared, hid behind me and the hubs, but ultimately showed your playful side. Typically, after 5 minutes of playing, you would put your paws up to be held and would fall asleep in my arms.

You got a little braver. You started to think that my hands were better than any chew toy around…OUCH!! Thankfully, peanut butter and a kong toy lessened that considerably.

I remember them spaying you at the shelter, and then I got to bring you home. You were loopy, and at first, hated the neck pillow that prevented you from playing with the spay incision. After a while, though, you found it to be a comfy pillow and fell asleep on my lap. I love these moments.

It was finally time to bring you to a vet. As I walked in, holding you with my 28934 questions that I had about being a good puppy mom, you started whimpering. You weren’t a fan of this new place, but eventually started getting playful after the nurse was done with the painful stuff (i.e. temperature taking…poor dogs).

One of the cutest things about you lately, is that you like to lay on your belly as I cook. You’re just watching, relaxing and just still learning about my husband and I’s lives. It’s so great!

I also notice that you’re little fears that you had at first are fading away, but at times, when you show some new ones, it’s great that you understand that we’re here for you. We really love you, Millie. 🙂 I can’t wait to write about you more!

Here is Millie at this very moment…sleeping at my feet. 🙂