What's Happening Lately: Goal Progress and Baby-Steps Back to Blogging

Let's bullet-point this b****.

• Goal progress is slow, but there IS progress! I haven't been regulating my internet time as much as I should, but I HAVE been closing it down and finding something else to do, like reading or crocheting! I do need to start timing myself, though. I've managed to cook from home twice last week, too! Pre-cooking meat really helped. I'm planning on pre-cooking meat again today since I have today off for MLK, Jr. day, just taco meat and crumbled Italian sausage. I've been craving tostadas, so I'm definitely planning on having that tonight! :) I also might actually have the ingredients for a small roast tonight, too, in the slow-cooker... gonna look into that as soon as this is posted! (I use this recipe, and it is AMAZING. The carrots especially absorb the delicious broth, yuuuuum!)
• One of my bestest friends is pregnant with her first child! (It's ok, she Facebook-announced it, so I'm clear to acknowledge it now ;D) I'm throwing her one of many baby showers - she's very loved. It's so fun clicking for ideas on Pinterest - I'm thinking the theme will be "little gentlemen", as she posted a very cute picture of her sonogram with a top-hat and bowtie added, which inspired me. :) Bowties and mustaches for the little man who's coming into their family! Of course there will be a post about it eventually. The shower is planned for mid-April!
• It is not looking like I will have my job come next school year. On the plus side, it's because the woman who had to take time off this year is healthy enough to come back! On the minus side, I really love it there and I am hardcore bumming about it. :( I have yet to feel so welcome, supported, and like I really fit in at a school before, and I wish there was a way to keep me there. At least I'll get really great letters of recommendation. 
• We're in the process of rental house-hunting! We checked out 4 places this weekend - the first two were great, the second pair weren't quite right for us. We'll be checking out more options this week to go for another round, as the company we'd be renting through for the 1st 2 properties we like takes applications on a 1st-come 1st served basis. Best to have a few more choices in case we didn't get our applications in soon enough. (There were a lot of lookers at both places, so it's very possible we didn't get our applications in first.) It's exciting and stressful at the same time, but I'm proud of ourselves that we're at the point in our adult lives where we can move forward in this manner; we've worked very hard to get to this point. Plus think of all the awesome home decorating I'll get to do now! AND THE SPACE OH MY GOSH WE ARE SO READY TO GET OUT OF THIS 1-BEDROOM APARTMENT. (We're looking at 3-bedroom houses - planning in advance in case we are lucky enough to be blessed with children while living there, and in the meantime I get a craft room, whooooo!)
• Daisy got a furcut! It cracks me up, when we take her to PetsMart for grooming, it is almost guaranteed that she will come back to us with bows in her hair if she gets a female groomer working on her. I'm not complaining! It's the only time I could get away with bows in her fur, The Hubs hates that kind of thing. (This one didn't last very long, unfortunately.)

This week is the start of our second semester, which means wrapping up grades from last semester! So my week will be filled with grading like a madwoman, and starting a whole new class - Drama! It'll be my first year teaching a drama class (Don't worry, I have a degree in theater) AND my first time directing a school play! So excited! (I'm taking the easy way out and using a Broadway Jr. show, it's kind of designed to be directed by anyone regardless of theater background.) Despite my imminent unemployment (again), I'm feeling fairly positive. I had a breakdown on Friday, but The Hubs really worked on making me see that it's not the end of the world, even if it feels like it is. Can't guarantee that I'll stay so positive as the end of year nears, but right now I'm feeling ok. The world tends to work out as it should. Maybe I was here for this year only to help out the school while they were missing a vital cog in their machine, and I served that purpose and now it's time to move on to a school that needs me even more! (Here's hoping, anyway. :D)

Have a good week!

Pinteresting: Iced Coffee at Home!

Mmmm, iced coffee.

Look, I need my coffee fix, even in 100+ F degree heat. I have a legit caffeine addiction, which is kind of pathetic considering all I drink is 1 cup of coffee a day - but if I don't have that 1 cup every 36 hours or so, my head starts pounding. Most months of the year, hot coffee in the morning is lovely and soothing. In the Central Valley of Northern California, though, summer is typically a June-October affair, with week-long spans of over 100 degrees. We just finished another run - last Friday the temperature dropped to 90 F, and it was as if Spring had returned! It was HEAVEN.

So I needed to switch to iced coffee, and FAST. I had a coupon for Keurig pods, and I do loves me Keurig, so I bought some "iced coffee" pods. It's "iced coffee" because it brews hot coffee over a glass full of ice. So yes, the coffee gets cold, but it's also severely watered down. So it tastes nice, but it loses a lot of the coffee flavor that us coffee drinkers like.

LUCKILY, me of 6 months or so ago thought ahead and pinned a simple method of making your own iced coffee! I saw the Pioneer Woman's method, but her method makes enough for a party (which could come in handy one day) - I don't need THAT much coffee, as I'm the only one drinking it! Luckily, I stumbled upon Seeded at the Table's method, which was essentially the same as Pioneer Woman's, but on a much smaller scale.

So, the simple formula seems to be a ratio of 1:8 coffee to water.  Pictured below is 1 cup of coffee to 8 cups water. I decided to get all fancy and use filtered water from my Brita - next time I might just pay the $1 and get a gallon jug from the store, since I had to re-fill the Brita and wait for it to finish filtering in order to get my full 8 cups. Not fun when I'm impatient. The Seeded method recommended 6-8 hours, or overnight. I went with overnight 'cuz I was going for MAXIMUM LAZINESS. Plus I was using a light-roast brew, so I figured the longer sitting would result in a stronger brew. (It seemed pretty strong to me!)

Pour your coffee grinds in first, then the water, then give it a good stir. Cover it up and let it sit!

Despite the jug label, the coffee is not fruit-flavored.

Once you wake up (or wait your allotted time), pour your mixture through a strainer lined with paper towels, coffee filters, or cheesecloth. I replaced the filter every time I let a good amount of coffee seep through. If you're using a cheap $1store strainer like I am, keep in mind that coffee is an oily liquid and you'll have to rinse off the strainer and dry the bottom every once in a while to let the coffee seep through again. Or get a better strainer. ;p This was the only part of the process that took time - the filtering (both in my Brita filter and out of the coffee grinds); I'd say it took maybe 15 minutes to filter the grinds out.

Ahhhh Black gold, Texas tea, concentrated caffeinated heaven!

 Once you've filtered all the liquid and tossed out those coffee grinds (if you garden, coffee grinds are great for soil!), pour yourself some over a glass full of ice cubes!

The test cup, mixed with stevia and organic half-and-half. BLIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. It's so refreshing while also giving me my morning caffeine dose!

The Kitchn also has links to other methods to try, if you'd like; I'll stick with this one for now, 'cuz it's the least time consuming for me. (Although the idea of vanilla ice cubes might be one I need to try!)



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Foodie Friday: Fast, Easy, & Cheap - Steak dinner!

So if you follow me on Twitter, you might recognize the picture below from when I tweeted it/taunted my followers with its deliciousness.

You might also remember that I bragged the whole shebang took about 30 minutes.

Upon reflection, it's about 40 including marinade set-up and chopping/scrubbing the potatoes. Yes, those are oven-roasted potatoes. Still, 40 minutes isn't bad for a steak dinner, am I right?

So how did it take so little time? Constant movement and a microwave cheat.

1. The steak was a nice New York strip I got during Savemart's $25 for 5 meat sale (which they do about once a month now, and I loooove it because it I usually need to restock right around the time the next sale comes up); I rubbed it with a dry rub, marinaded in this excellent (and easy) marinade, and let it stew for most of the day.
2. The potatoes are oven-roasted, but here's the trick: They're softened in the microwave first. I got this tip from an old book my mom gave me when I got my first apartment in college; it's "30 Minutes or Less", a cookbook published by California Cookbook in the 90s, but I can't find it anywhere online. Anyway, the recipe is to chop up 5-6 medium-size red potatoes (not the minis), drizzle olive oil over them in a microwave-safe bowl, and nuke 'em for 5 minutes on high. Then throw some seasoning on them (in this case, S&P, garlic powder, and thyme), toss them in a baking pan, and roast 'em at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes.
3. WHILE the potatoes are microwaving, rinse, dry, and snap the asparagus (and take out the steak to let it rest at room temperature for a little while). Once you throw the potatoes in, lie the spears on a cookie sheet; drizzle olive oil on the spears, sprinkle with S&P, garlic powder, and grated parmesan cheese, and mix it all up so all the spears get nice and coated. Throw it in the oven with the potatoes for the last 12 minutes of cooking time. (If you want to roast it on its own, I prefer to roast it at 400 F for about 8-10 minutes; it lets the tips get crispy without the stalks getting soggy. With the potatoes, it stayed firm but not as crisp as I like it.)
4. Once the asparagus is in the oven, turn on your Foreman grill so it gets warm for the steak (I KNOW, sacrilege, but whatever, it works for me). Once it's hot enough, throw the steak on there, let it sizzle for about 5 minutes (if you want it medium rare-medium), then take it off the grill and let it sit until it's at your preferred doneness. Obviously, if you have a preferred method of steak-cooking, by all means. I'm still learning, and so far this method has worked OK for me. :)

My final touch was grating this tasty smoked gouda with bacon cheese that The Hubs had purchased onto the potatoes; it was good, not great. Needed a stronger cheese, I think (and crispy cooked bacon - the bacon in the cheese wasn't crispy). Still tasty, though!

So as you can see, it worked out that while one thing was cooking, the other stuff was prepped and then added to the cooking mix. So I was on my feet and moving for probably 20 minutes of the process, but it wasn't necessarily a rush to do. Plus it resulted in a tasty, filling dinner that was ready in about 30-40 minutes! Which is how I like to cook - fast, cheap, and easy. Yum!



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What's Happening Lately

• Still no job yet, but I've had at least an interview/second interview every week so far, which is kind of nice and ego-boosting. Lots of good feedback, but it'd be nice to be first place instead of second/third soon. 
• My daily goal is to avoid going outside unless absolutely necessary as of late. Mainly because HOLY BALLS IT IS HOT AROUND HERE ARGH. It's going to be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the next solid week, and most days will be over 105! So of course I have to leave the house several times this upcoming week (for worthwhile reasons, but STILL). 
• Our poor Daisy dog had a MAJOR tummy issue the other night - she's so well-behaved, though, that she didn't wake us to let us know that she was having tummy issues, so by the time the poor Hubs discovered it with his foot, it was cold and sunken into the carpet. :( She has NEVER had an accident like that before - it was pure liquid, poor baby. We put her on the recommended recovery plan from Pet WebMD (yes, that site exists!), and we're hoping it was a weird fluke; she's been fine ever since! Maybe she snuck something when we weren't looking (but we're usually pretty vigilant). Either way, she actually LIKES the bland diet, so it's been awesome for her! ;D Please keep your fingers crossed for us - we re-introduce her normal dog food (which is all natural and grain-free) tomorrow. (Don't worry about the carpet - we're getting free carpet cleaning from our apartment very soon for unrelated reasons, now we'll get our money's worth! hahaha)
  

  

  Our adorable Little Sh**.

• I've been avoiding flour and sugar this week (if I have it at all, it's in very small amounts or it's fruit), and the carbs I do have are in small amounts as well; it's amazing how different it's made me feel, in a good way! When I indulged in a bite of The Hubs' bagel the other day, the sugar high was so sudden that it knocked me out (i.e., I fell asleep - but this was combined with also being dehydrated from running errands in THAT DAMN HEAT)! When I woke up, I could still taste the sugar in my saliva, ugh. I don't like not eating sweets and baked goods, but I also don't like being "sugar-sick", as I call it. Small servings of potatoes and rice don't bug me (plus I tend to eat sweet potatoes and brown rice now, which usually slowly raise sugars), and reasonable amounts of fruit don't bug me, either, which is nice, so I don't have to give up EVERYTHING I like to eat at least! ;D Now I just need to figure out the exercise component... as in, finding motivation TO do it. Meh. Sweat bad, sit on lazy butt good.
• I'm also finding little to no motivation to get stuff done around the house. I have no idea how housewives do it! I'm still the stubborn 10-year-old going DON'T WANNA, but it's so not fair to The Hubs who works every day! I hate being a spoiled brat, but seriously I maybe do A chore a day, every other day at my best. It takes all of 10-30 minutes, and I even realize that AS I'M DOING THE CHORE, but the next day I'm like NOOOOOOOPE. I know this is a repetitive admission on here, but I guess I want to keep holding myself accountable to it by mentioning it. Other than Monday and Tuesday (as I'll be out of the house most of the day both days), though, I am going to make it my goal to use the chore list below (click the pic for the source), at least for the summer. Three weeks of practice makes it a habit, right? Right!

 

Here's to a good week!

What I've Learned After 6 Years of Marriage

If you know who made this/said this, tell me!

I would never DARE to claim to be a marriage expert, nor a perfect wife. Far from, in both cases. Anything I've learned about marriage has been through observation, experience, and my own mistakes. I feel, though, that we have a successful marriage so far. The Hubs and I have been friends for 12 years, romantically involved for 10.5 years, and married for 6! This is what I've learned in that time, through our own missteps and watching other long-term couples. (The Hubs didn't contribute, but I might do a follow-up with his opinions added.)

• Keep some mystery alive - in other words, pee with the door closed. I'm totally serious. IMHO, it kind of kills the sexy/romance if you've seen them do their "business". Grossness can't always be avoided (see: when one of you is sick and needs assistance), but avoiding it when you have the option makes the most sense to me.
• Have fun with each other! Being playful and flirty is part of the fun of being in a relationship - marriage or long-term commitment doesn't have to kill that fun! Be careful though with teasing; I was raised where "teasing" was quite cruel even when it was funny. My mom pointed out how mean I was to The Hubs early in our relationship, and I had to work on taking the venom out of my jokes. He likes that I can sass back, though, so we found our happy medium and rarely do the jokes lead to hurt feelings.
• Use your manners! I think when you live with someone full-time, you start to forget that they're someone who deserves basic human respect. It's not an intentional cruelty, it's just... well, you don't say "please" and "thank you" to yourself, right? So it kind of makes sense how one might stop doing it to their S.O. I don't think people realize how much it means to others when we show the basic human respect of saying "please" and "thank you". I mean, we say these things to the barista handing us our Starbucks, extend that same courtesy to your mate. 
• It's the little things that matter! The Hubs is way better at this than I am, but I'm trying to match up. He always asks if I need anything when he's already up; I'm trying to return the favor (it doesn't come as naturally to me). One of us will ask the other if they need us to stop anywhere on our way home, e.g., The Hubs will pick up my prescriptions at Wal-Mart if I need them since it's on his way home from work. Those little moments add up and bring the happy feels up when you think of your mate. 
• Make "Couple Time" a priority. I'm not saying co-dependency, I'm saying make little niches of time in your life to talk/spend time with each other. Sitting in the living room staring at the boob tube/playing on the computer doesn't count; I'm talking actual conversation. It doesn't have to be hours on end; 15-30 minutes of just catching up on your day is enough. Bonus points for cuddling or touching in some affectionate way during this time. We also "tuck into bed", which is where we cuddle in bed for a little while before one of us (or both) go to sleep. We used to do it every night, but over the years we've winnowed it down maybe 3 times a week. It really works for us, because it's just time for us to cuddle and talk/laugh/be silly. It doesn't usually even lead to sexy times, it's just something we do and it helps keep us connected. Do your own thang and be your own person, but be sure to share that awesome person with your partner at least a little bit somewhat frequently!
  

  

  The Hubs and I, seconds after we were made official - LOOK AT US WE WERE BABIES OH MY GOODNESS!

• Sex is important. Talking about sex openly is equally important. I don't have kids, so I'm not EVEN gonna TRY to suggest how to incorporate sex into life with kids (Hell, I might be desperate for that advice myself once kiddos are in the picture!). My focus is more on talking about sex with your partner, and trying to find mutual comfort zones so your needs are met. Sexual intimacy adds a lot to a relationship, and when that area isn't healthy, it can negatively affect other parts of the relationship. I'm trying to keep this PG, so without going into personal experience, these are the three most important things I feel are important for keeping your "relations" mutually satisfying:

1. Talk about what you want/want to try/don't want - but talk about it when you're not naked. Best time is when you're both relatively calm and nowhere NEAR anything sexual happening. It can be awkward, but it's important to do!
2. Be ok when your partner says "No" - and exercise that right when you need to also. It's hard because sexual rejection is, well, rejection and no one likes rejection! However, sometimes it's just not good timing for sexy times, and as long as it's not EVERY TIME you or your partner tries to put on the moves, it doesn't mean your partner's not attracted to you (or you to him/her). (If it IS every time, see #1.)
3. Sex is not dirty (unless you're doing it in mud)! It's one of the best parts of being coupled, IMHO - someone to have fun with in a very sexy way! Let go and have fun (once you've talked about what you're both comfortable with and what you want to try)! What you two do in the boudoir is YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS, and whatever you consider "normal" is normal; nothing is "weird" if you both like it!

• WALK AWAY when anger starts to turn into a fight. I have a fiesty Latina temper, while it takes The Hubs more time to get going (but once he does, watch out). We're not the best at this because sometimes the anger hits so fast we don't have that moment to take a breath and walk away, but IF you can, step away. This does NOT mean ignore the problem; it means walk away until you can discuss the problem rationally. I have literally put myself in time-out when I know my anger is irrational/unfair/ridiculous until I can calm down and talk it out without lashing out. Also, suck it up and apologize when you're the a**hole - even if you're not the only a**hole. Once you're both calm enough to talk about it, apologize for your part. 
• Also, side note: IMHO, it's not an apology if you add a "but" after it. Like, "I'm sorry what I said upset you, but you're constantly late." THAT'S NOT AN APOLOGY, that's another fight-starter. If you still can't talk without anger/hurt feelings, WALK AWAY. 
• Find at least one thing your partner is passionate about that you don't mind participating in. Most likely, you both will have at least one passion in common; something had to draw you two together (aside from raw sexual magnetism, OBVIOUSLY). However, you are not going to like everything your partner loves, and vice versa. Expecting that of them is setting both of you up for frustration and disappointment. (This is something The Hubs and I learned the hard way, and lead to some very serious and scary talks, even.) So try to find something you can enjoy with your partner - you don't have to be at the same level of enthusiasm, but don't participate in a passion that you find utterly boring, either.
  For example, The Hubs' main hobby is sports: watching, listening to radio shows, and playing. We joke that I'm a "sports widow", but he HAS compromised a lot in regards to TV viewing and his obsessions so I don't feel that "widowed". ;D My compromise in this area is that I enjoy attending sporting events with him; I'm not AS excited about basketball and I hate football, so I'm not usually present for those, but I enjoy baseball games (go SF Giants!) and through The Hubs I have become a HUGE (for me) hockey fan (SHAAAAAAARKS!).
  For a long time, this effort on my part went without balance from The Hubs. While he loves all my creative pursuits, they just aren't his thing. When I met someone (non-romantic) who actually liked a lot of the same arty/nerdy things I liked, it was a wake-up call and led to those aforementioned serious/scary talks. This has to be a mutual thing; one person can't do this while the other doesn't extend the same courtesy. The Hubs has in recent years "returned the favor", so to speak, by accompanying me to theater performances, museums, and the like (and to be fair, I try to find things I think he'll like, such as "Avenue Q" and museum exhibits he'll also find semi-interesting). I know he's not having THE BEST TIME EVARS at these things, but I know he's not usually completely bored, either, and I try not to abuse the privilege; The Hubs extends the same courtesy. 

HOLY CRAP I have a lot of opinions on relationships. It feels to me like I'm bragging or trying to pretend my marriage is perfect; it's not meant to be bragging, because The Hubs and I are human and we are fallible and make mistakes. I simply feel that The Hubs and I have weathered a fair amount of storms, and while there are some areas that we could probably still use some professional help in improving, most days we are happy with each other even when our outside circumstances are rough. The stuff listed above is a huge contributing factor to this mutual happiness and love. If someone reads these thoughts and finds something useful, then hopefully this will lead them to strengthen their own relationships just a little bit more. :)

The Hubs and I at a friend's wedding last November, looking older and wiser (and sexier, let's be honest)

*The Hubs graciously let me post pictures of us; his main concern was, "You're not going to post pictures of us doing illegal stuff or anything, right?" Well, not NOW, fun-spoiler. 

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Apps I love: Organization Help

So while I'm not the cleanest housewife in the world, or the least cluttered (I'm not at "Hoarders" level yet, but I really need a bigger house first to reach that level), but I'm actually pretty good at organizing. I LIKE organizing. I can organize the crap out of stuff. It's the execution that isn't always so hot. ;D

That said, as I'm addicted to my iPhone (It's so vintage - it's a 3GS!), I have found a few apps that I really like and which help me organize myself quite nicely.

Cozi (Free and Paid app - I use the free version) - Cozi is pretty awesome because it can be shared amongst your family members. You all download the app, then log in and add information as it's needed. It has a calendar, shopping lists, and to-do lists you can use. The Hubs and I use the lists features the most, esp. for grocery shopping. This way he can add stuff to it as he thinks about it, and all I have to do is check it when I'm connected to our WiFi before I go grocery shopping. VERY Convenient that way. It's really easy to figure out and use, which is also nice for those who aren't tech-savvy.

The Main Menu

One of the shopping lists - you can make separate Header titles by adding a new item in ALL CAPS - it defaults to a new header automatically

 

The To-Do Lists menu (and yes, I have one just for the blog - it's a good way to jot down ideas for later posts when I'm away from home)

I swear I didn't add that to his list. ;D

 Any.Do (Free) - It's to-do lists made fun! SERIOUSLY. I know that sounds cheesy, but Any.do makes it kind of fun to make your list and update it. It's sole purpose is to plan your day/week/etc. Yes, iPhones come with a calendar and reminders, but this one's more flashy and fun, AND it's easier to re-arrange your tasks than in either of the standard iPhone apps I mentioned IMHO. What makes it so fun? It's cute and encouraging! Look at the screenshots I took with all their encouragement:

It compliments you when you cross multiple things off your to-do list!

This is the screen after you plan your day with the Any.Do Moment feature. How fun!

Plus its simple design is clean and pretty. To move tasks from today to tomorrow or "Upcoming" (it'll prompt you to pick when "upcoming" is), all you have to do is hover your finger on the words of the task, and it'll let you move it easily! I like how changing my list is LITERALLY at my fingertips. (Don't worry, there's a quick little tutorial the first time you use the app, it's super-easy and the visuals explain it better than I could.)

This is how it looks when you're editing it - the Red bell is your alert, the Post-It with the blue 1 is for additional notes

When you tilt the phone to the side, this it what it changes to!

iPhone Calendar - I know I just said I prefer Any.do for what I need to get done, and I do, but the standard Calendar has its uses as well, like the alerts you can set to remind you in events. I keep two calendars on there - my personal appointments and my meal plans (when I need to meal plan - I'm not as thorough a meal planner when I'm off work for vacations). It actually works pretty awesome - when I was working at a summer camp, it came in handy to link my Google calendar that helped me keep track of all the different days and my schedule for those days; I put it all in the Google calendar, then synced it with my phone using these instructions. It was the only way to do it and keep my meal planning calendar also. Plus I sometimes find it faster to update my meal planning calendar on my phone than on the computer - Google Calendars can be kind of a finicky jerk sometimes. Heh.

Hope you find these apps helpful, too! (By the way, I get no money for this. I just like sharing stuff that works for me because if it works for me, it might work for someone else.)

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Pinteresting: DIY Air Fresheners

So as I've mentioned before, I'm *ahem* slightly addicted to Pinterest. Oh, just a total of 22 boards and over 1,300 pins, not addicted at all, I CAN QUIT ANYTIME I WANT.

I say this with a small amount of annoyance because while I have all these great pins, I've yet to try most of them out! So since I have all this free time on my hands for now, I'd like to try at least one new thing from one of my MANY Pinterest boards out.

This week is actually kind of busy; I have some things going on that I need to prepare for, so I wanted to pick something easy to try out for the first round, and with a high likelihood of success. So I found a pin on my Housewifery board for air fresheners made from fruit and herbs.

Source: theyummylife.com via Sammi on Pinterest

I decided to go with the "Williams-Sonoma Scent", which consists of lemons, rosemary, and vanilla extract; I used the miniature slow-cooker method, since I have a handy-dandy Mini-Dipper.

The original "recipe" is for 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 2 lemons, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. The changes I made based on cost/necessity/size of mini-dipper: I used baby lemons (2 babies for every 1 regular size) 'cuz they were on sale for 10/$1; I could only fit in 2. I couldn't find fresh rosemary at the grocery store, so I threw in about a half-teaspoon of dried. The mini-dipper only fit about 1.5 cups of water. With all this half-ing of the original recipe, I figured it would be best to half the vanilla extract - and I figured right, 'cuz the extract is STRONG.

My verdict: It's subtle and it's nice! Every time I breathe in deep, it smells like either lemon or vanilla, neither of which is bad! As you can see, mine's not NEARLY as pretty as the website's thanks to using dried rosemary (which isn't really a part of the scent). I also like that it's all natural stuff, so I'm not adding chemicals into the air AND I can still re-use the mini-dipper for food stuff, too (my personal favorite use so far: chocolate fondue!). Plus using the slow-cooker method means I don't have a super-hot stove-top burning all day and posing a possible fire risk; slow-cookers don't burn hot enough to be a danger (although naturally I keep all possibly flammable stuffs away from it just in case, because duh).

Edited to add: Once it gets simmering after about 3 hours, the rosemary kicks in, the scents all combine and it smells HEAVENLY. Oh muh guh. Only downside is that it only really smells heavenly in the kitchen - the rest of the place is very subtle but clean-smelling. So I need to figure out how to make the WHOLE house stink good, not just the kitchen (although I'm not complaining when I walk by the kitchen - yum!).

This was perfect: easy, nice-smelling, and it makes me feel like a housewife. Now to find another Pinteresting project!

Getting Out of the House, Week 1

So, I've been stuck in this situation before - the days of nothing while you hope a job application turns into an interview and then a job. It's the WORST, or at least it has been in the past. BUT I'm determined to not let that be the case this time.

From previous experience, I've noticed that having an appointment or something to do OUTSIDE of the house usually results in a more positive, productive day. Something about feeling like I have a reason to get off my butt is a big motivator for me. Last week I was lucky in that I had two days where I had friends who invited me to spend time with them - it helped delay the emotional regression a few days, and resulted in feeling decent on those days.

This week my plan is to get the f*** out of the house. Even if it's only for an hour, it still helps me. Maybe it's the fresh air, maybe it's the Vitamin D, maybe it's actually moving as opposed to sitting on my big butt, WHATEVER, it works. I mean, let's be honest - if I was at work, I'd be wishing I could be home doing other stuff. Now's the time to do the other stuff!

As a form of keeping myself accountable, I'm going to list my plans for the week AND I plan to update my instagram with a picture of each activity. I know no one else cares, but it matters to me. (If you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm at mantequilla81. (I don't update it often, so don't worry about being bombarded with photos of food.)

So what's on the agenda for this week?

• Buy fresh food at a local farmer's market.
• Take Daisy to a nearby park for a nice long walk.
• Walk around the Capitol lawn and building and enjoy a picnic lunch/stalk Gavin Newsom (YUM).
• Errand-running, 'cuz they can't all be fun. I have enough that I can split it between two days. :) One will be mall-based, one will be grocery/house needs based.

These won't be the ONLY things I do all day; as I mentioned last week, I have a daily checklist I aim to hit, and getting out of the house is one of the items on the checklist. :) I plan to attack the daily chore via a method from Unf*** Your Habitat (love that site): 20 minutes of work, 10 minute break until the chore is complete! (They call it "20/10s", or they also suggest 45/15s - it's a variation on the Pomodoro technique.)

I think it's a good start; of course, I have to figure out what else is available around here that's cheap and/or free to keep me occupied. Might be buying myself an iced coffee at Starbucks and reading for an hour, or reading magazines at the local library, etc. Gonna keep an eye out for local events too.

Anyone else have suggestions for cheap/free things to do that'll get me out of the house?

What Works For Me: The Buddy System

photo from thecampuscompanion.com - found via Google. Please don't sue.

The Hubs puts up with a LOT from me (disclaimer: in MY opinion he does, but he would probably dispute this). I'm a bit of a mental mess at times, as I'm sure I've mentioned before. The most dangerous combo is that I'm easily overwhelmed and I tend to be a perfectionist.

Seriously, yesterday I finally wanted to prepare adobo pork chops that I had planned to prep when I bought them 6 days ago; I left them in the fridge thinking I would get to them soon. Every day I glanced at them, saw they were still pink and assumed they were good. Now, I had a pack of turkey sausages on top of them (which also still looked good), so I only saw the rim of the chops. Pull them out yesterday, saw that the meat had turned GREEN. GREEN. So my damn procrastination resulted in my wasting $9 worth of meat. I paid the joint account back from my own fun money, which The Hubs thought was more than fair, but I could not let it go the rest of the night. Hell, I'm STILL thinking about it, obviously, because I'm so mad that I let this happen. The Hubs was over it about 1 minute after I told him - he was more bummed because it meant we wouldn't be having the chops for dinner.

Anyway, the above is just an example of the head-space The Hubs has to deal with. As I mentioned many moons ago, I had several large projects I wanted to tackle once a week as one of my goals. I didn't get rolling until The Hubs suggested that if we did it first thing in the morning that Sunday, he'd be happy to help. I thought that was a great idea - we already share the chores of dishes and laundry (he washes, I put away for both), and it makes the chores less daunting and annoying to me. So that's how we finally got the Xmas stuff put away (on St. Patrick's Day *sigh*) - and it felt so good that we both decided to tackle one more chore on our own, and I later went grocery shopping because I felt so productive!

We've done it several times since then - we schedule a start time and choose one project or room to focus on, and work together to get it done. It's becoming an almost-weekly thing, and it's nice because sh** is getting done around the apartment and it's slowly becoming much more hospitable. Love it!

Obviously this system doesn't work on the reg if you don't have a live-in buddy, but it can still be a good idea; my friend JS helped her friend pack for moving by helping the friend organize with lists, and even going over to help pack as well (because JS is awesome at it - I totally plan on recruiting her when we eventually move). Someone to help you out when a task seems so big is a huge weight off the shoulders and allows for the task to actually get started. Everything's easier to tackle when there's a team, right? I'm especially grateful to have someone who is willing to tackle these big, scary tasks with me and be my cheerleader. I'm a very lucky woman, and hey, our home is getting a little bit better every week!

Today was the fridge/freezer - fridge had gross stuff, freezer was so packed with crap that we were in constant threat of a broken toe and it was driving The Hubs nuts. Took us 30 minutes, then Hubs washed out the salvageable containers while I menu-planned; I'm going to attack last week's chore of switching pantry for cabinets (I'm moving pots/pans, dishes, and tupperware [today's attack] into our massive pantry and the non-perishable food where  the dishes/pans were - much less room for wasting food, much more room to see all the pots/pans I have at a glance! I LOVE IT), then I'll run to the store for the week's food and a treat to enjoy my double-feature of "Game of Thrones"/"Mad Men"!

It feels so good to start my week off productively. Such an improvement from me of even two years ago!

Vacation!

It's an unpaid forced vacation, but it's still vacation, whoooo!

Back finally better, I was even able to play in the last volleyball game! I also signed up for volleyball again, which was super-exciting. It starts next week, AND one of the players from my last team ended up on my new team! It's reassuring to have someone along for the ride, so to speak.

I've been off since Friday (yes, I'm totally spoiled - one big perk of being a teacher), and I will confess that I spent most of the first 3 days doing jack. It was so relaxing and wonderful, but now I'm like AW CRAP MUST DO ALL THE THINGS! I have so much I want to do this week, and at the same time I feel like I need to RELAAAAAX 'cuz I'm so... stressed out? I'm not, really, and there's stuff I need to get done, so I'm going to DO ALL THE THINGS! (I type this, of course, sitting in my pj's and unshowered.) I'm still planning to stick to the list I made last time, and I've already started chipping away at the laundry and making valentines! I'm also looking forward to all the cooking I'm going to do - homemade dinners at night! I've been cooking more lately now that my back's not being a jerk, so it's not like it's a whole new experience or anything; it's just nice to feel like I have the time and energy for such things. Y'know? Even though I'm not THAT busy during the week, I still feel insanely busy, which is really annoying.

Considering how awful my job has gotten, having a break right now is perfect timing. Hopefully I can go back with a better attitude to get me through the rest of the school year. Still not sure what I want to do, though, after the school year. Right now I'm focused on making my job JUST a job and getting back in touch with my life. One way I'm getting back in touch with life is to make a nice Valentine's dinner for The Hubs and myself; I'm actually really excited for it! It feels good to focus on stuff outside of work.

On that note, time to focus on stuff! DO ALL THE THINGS! Today's agenda: Groceries, finish the dishes, 2 loads of laundry, and finish/mail off my valentines! Maybe I'll come back and report on today's success/update with tomorrow's agenda, too.

When My Back Gets Better...

My back is feeling MARGINALLY better (and regardless of its status, I'm still going into work tomorrow *sigh*), but it's just painful enough that I decided to stay home and rest it rather than attend the all-day poker/Super Bowl party our friend had (The Hubs went, of course, because his team was playing for the first time since he was a KID! Unfortunately, it didn't end well for his team). So my day was super-boring - 3 days straight at home=SUPER BORED OMG. Work will be a RELIEF. (Plus we have a bunch of furlough days next week so I just need to make it until Friday if my back's being a huge jerk.)

Also, tomorrow is my volleyball league's last game - I've missed the last two and I still don't think I can play. *sigh* I'm going to go watch/grab a drink with them afterwards, 'cuz this is my only season playing with them as they're playing ultimate frisbee next season. =( Figure it's better to at least say goodbye in person than avoid the game. But since the next season starts in 2 weeks and this back is taking 2+ weeks to heal, I'm avoiding next season and will join up again in summer. Still, SO FRUSTRATING. Hopefully I will get myself in better shape by the next season. Just more disappointment to add to the recent ones. :(

So to motivate myself to get happy and get better, here's a list of stuff I plan to throw myself into when my back is feeling better:

• Valentine's Day! I actually had enough personal money to surprise my husband with a nice V-day activity (which will benefit me also) - our local minor league hockey tickets against the SF Bulls (which feeds into the SJ Sharks)! I wish I could afford Sharks tickets, but gas + time to get down there alone make the cost prohibitive, let alone tickets for the cheap seats! Hopefully it's the though that counts. This doesn't include making his favorite meal for Valentine's day itself (the game is the Saturday afterwards); Valentine's Day is a big deal for us because it was our first date (cliche', I know) and I made his favorite meal on that date. :)
• I might also make some V-day cards for my grandmas, as I like to do. :) I'll certainly have the time with the furlough break, whoo-hoo!
• Making our dining room table an actual table. It's a clutter catch-all, and I'd like us to start taking time to eat at our table together. That means I need to make it more appealing to eat there. :)
• Cleaning up my craft area/FINALLY putting away our (artificial) Xmas tree. Yes, it's still up. Yes, we're lame. HEY, my back's been out!
• Catching up on our laundry because OMG IT'S INSANE. 

Aside from laundry, these are all things I'm looking forward to. I just need my back to STOP BEING A BITCH DAMMIT. ARGH.

Next Steps

As I've probably mentioned a few times, I want to live a beautiful life. Focusing on little things that bring me joy - a home I'm comfortable and proud of, good food, and spending time with my loved ones.

After the long hours I've put into my current job (and to be "rewarded" with a pink slip for all of this effort), it made me realize that while I am proud to be passionate about my career field, it's become a distraction from the previously mentioned goal. It lead to me neglecting everything outside of work, and while I plan to finish my contract without neglecting my students, I also plan to take this as a sign that I need to re-align my focus.

Go figure, this re-focus comes at the same time that my body literally added injury to insult. Last Sunday I woke up with a sore back, but continued on like it wasn't and made it worse, and it seriously hasn't stopped hurting all freaking week. UGH. It's JUST now starting to get to a point of tolerable. So all the things I want to get started on had to take a back seat so I could heal (plus still working the whole time didn't really help, heh).

Luckily, we have a vacation week around President's Day, so I'm thinking I'll start working towards all the habits I want to develop, and any of those habits that need more focus can be during that week.

Also, during this vacation week will begin the job search; I've decided to keep working in education, but expanding what I define as "working" to consider other parts of the field. I'll also be looking in other fields as well, but only if I see something that genuinely interests me. The Hubs is very supportive and encouraging, and believes in me as a creative person; if we can find a way for me to be creative and bring in enough income, he's behind it. It's something I'm considering as well.

All in all, I'm looking at this situation as a re-direction to finding what makes me happiest. I think being an educator is part of that, but I don't know if the education field and I share the same vision. We'll see where I'm meant to be. Despite the negative circumstances, I'm actually looking to move forward and stop relying on my job to fulfill me.

VACATION! Also known as "catch-up on life" time!

So as most people know, teachers get at least 2 weeks off for the winter holidays.

I should be excited. I should be relaxing for this entire break.

But instead I will only have "off" through Xmas day, and then I'm kicking in on all the catch-up work I have to do for work. That's right, a working vacation. (Although to be fair, I'm planning on working on all the stuff I LIKE to do as a teacher, which is mainly unit planning; the part I don't like, grading, is waiting until next week when school re-opens and I can go in to work to do it as well as prep for the first week back.)

Although I will be working through most of my break (giving myself the 4-day weekends that The Hubs have off as my own so I force myself to relax a LITTLE), I plan to use it to catch up on real life stuff as well, mostly of the housewife variety but some personal pursuits as well.

It's frustrating to me to feel so out of balance, which makes sense as I am a Libra. I get overwhelmed very easily by own inadequacies, and when I feel I'm lacking in an area it makes me beat myself up a LOT. The focus has been on work, and to be honest it felt like every other area of my life was suffering as a consequence, which just fed my own self-hatred. I'm trying to even things out a little, and the last few weeks as school was winding down to finals I was actually able to get stuff done, including Xmas-related stuff. Turns out the trick is to stop making work the only priority and make a little wiggle room for other stuff to climb up the ranks - go fig!

Anyway, the intent of this is not to complain, esp. because for the most part I still love my job and I'm so happy to be back in the classroom with a (mostly) awesome group of 9th and 10th graders.

The intent is to list all the things I want to get done over break! OMG so much to catch up on!
Here's my self-imposed Honey Do list:

• Treat the bathtub drain and clean the tub - it is so gross, you guys, it's so embarrassing. The reason neither of us clean it with any frequency is because we both have bad backs and it's a sh**** chore, but I'm tired of looking at how gross it is. Plus I'm tired of the bathtub not draining fast again. (It's actually pretty easy - you heat up a cup of white vinegar and pour a 1/2 cup [I think] of baking soda down the drain, followed by the vinegar and it cleans it out fairly well - you can repeat it until it's draining as you like it. Man, baking soda is the best for cleaning stuff.)
• Fix all the clothes that need sewing fixes. 
• WASH ALL THE LAUNDRY!
• Start working out. Yeah, I said it. I REALLY want to get healthier, and since eating is hit or miss, I gotta put the exercise element in. Volleyball once a week is helping and I feel GREAT afterwards, but I want that feeling more often. I have a beginner's walking program I found on sparkpeople that I plan to use.
•  COOK (and meal plan!). I'm thinking of making big meals or easily-doubled recipes that I can freeze. I also need to clean out the fridge and freezer, so I have room for all this food. 
• Clean out the pantry!
• A bunch of little housewife-y projects (all via Pinterest, my internet crack) - all natural cleaner, non-processed cream of whatever-soup mix, clean my dishwasher
• Make stuff just for the sake of making stuff! Man, I miss crafting. 

So yeah, it's a pretty long to-do list, but I know I will feel SO much better if I get this crap done, esp. if I get in the work-out habit NOW and get it on its way to becoming a habit before I go back to work.

Man, being an adult is exhausting. 

Prepping for Back to Schoo/Work: Routines

So as I may have mentioned before/is viewable in that little profile blurb to the left -->, I'm a teacher. More specifically, a high school English teacher. All teachers would probably agree with me that a major component of classroom organization is ROUTINE. Kids love routines - even older kids that don't like to be called kids, a.k.a. teenagers. Heck, it's human nature to prefer routine - there's comfort in familiarity and the expected, and it makes life easier to know what to do in certain situations.

Love this, but didn't make it. Fitting, though.

That said, I've never been great at establishing routines outside of the classroom. Or, I guess I should say I've never been good at establishing EFFECTIVE routines. I routinely wait until the last minute to do things or hit the snooze button - so it's not like I don't have routines, they're just routines I don't want. ;p There's some dysfunction in my personality that rebels against the idea of HAVING to do things; it drives me nuts, and at the same time I'm like "UUUUGH DON'T WANNA." Now I'm trying to be better.

Since I'm a grown-@$$ woman and need to get my shtuff in order, I've been trying to get used to a morning routine. I'm currently working at a camp for international students, and I teach ESL in the mornings, so it's similar to the scholastic setting to which I'll return in about 3 weeks. (In other news, HOLY CRAP I ONLY HAVE 3 MORE WEEKS TO PREPARE.) So I've been trying to create a routine in the mornings that I can work with, and get used to it for the next 3 weeks so I can ease into the school year, rather than it be a big ol' shock, y'know? The first weeks of school are always tough when you're getting used to the routine again, so the easier I can make it on myself, the better.

This is the morning routine I'm trying to establish:

• Wake up, 10-minute workout (yes, just 10 minutes - I'm easing myself into it)
• shower, hair and make-up done
• make and eat breakfast
• take Daisy out for a nice walk (about 20 minutes)

I've been getting up about 2 hours before I need to leave for work for this routine... it's way more time than I need, but I like it because I don't have to rush. Which, when I leave for work at 8:30, isn't so early... but in 3 weeks, I'll be leaving for work at 6:30. Getting up 2 hours earlier, which would be 4:30... yeah, I don't know. Might need to work it into 1.5 hours earlier. Probably could save myself some time by jumping out of bed, not dilly-dallying on my phone trying to wake up.

So far, I've managed all but the workouts. Heh. I need to work on that, obviously - so that's my focus this week; the idea is to get 3 separate 10-minute workouts of decent intensity done morning, noon, and late afternoon (like when I get home from work). Eventually, I'd like to up the workouts to 20 minutes. It's not a vanity thing - it's literally doctor's orders... but I've never been one to workout for the sake of working out, which is why I'm trying to do it in short spurts. (Unless I find a class I like, then on days I take an exercise class I'll excuse myself from the other workouts as long as it's equivalent to the time I'd normally workout.) Again, though, this is why I've given myself some time to establish this routine - the more habitual it is when school starts, the less problematic it will be to keep it up, hopefully.

The other routine I'd like to establish is a kitchen-related one. First is that I want to prep my lunch at the same time I'm making dinner, like get dinner in the oven/prolonged cooking time, and in the in-between time, prep whatever I need for lunch the next day so it's ready to grab and go in the morning. I would also like to take that in-between time, or after eating time, to do the dishes. I have good weeks and bad weeks of doing the dishes daily, but I also hate the dishes piling up. They still DO, but man do I hate it. ;p

The biggest thing I'm fighting here is myself and that natural reluctance do things that I HAVE to do, or that I'm EXPECTED to do; I'm not normally a rebellious person, but basic housekeeping/chores has always been something I've fought. Yet I prefer living in a cleaner house and having life be a little easier, so I need to do little things throughout the week rather than big overhauling things once in a while, which is more exhausting and frustrating. Right? Right.

Makes perfect sense, and yet I still drag my feet kicking and screaming. I am noticing a little less kicking and screaming, though. Maybe I'm finally growing up!

Prepping for Back to School/Work: Food

So one thing I've been struggling with for years is my "chore" of cooking dinner. We've gotten better about limiting our buying of meals instead of cooking, but that's partly been because I've been home more often to cook. Even then, I still stick to fairly simple meals; I like to cook (and certainly LOVE to eat), but I'm not a huge fan of super-complicated cooking most of the time. Sometimes the prep is worth it, obviously, but usually I'd rather pay other people to do it. ;D

So what does a gal do when she's the only one in the family who can make food taste good, but she's got a 2-hour commute and an 8+-hour a day job?

Plan, prep in advance, and cut yourself some slack.

Here's how I usually deal with cooking during the week; It's not always consistent, but for the most part this strategy works well for us.

Sunday: A slow-cooker meal; I'll usually make a big recipe and freeze the leftovers for a future Monday meal
Monday: an easy pre-made meal, either from our own frozen leftovers or frozen dinners from the store, like orange chicken and brown rice & veggies from Trader Joe's. Basic heat n' eats, because Mondays are exhausting enough on their own.
Tuesday-Thursday: Simple-to-prepare meals, usually a protein and vegetable (maybe some carbs if I've been good). If I'm especially organized
Friday & Saturday: Free days - since we usually have plans on the weekend, it's just easier to assume we won't be eating at home; since we eat home the rest of the week, we budget for it. Plus, usually one of those meals is at a friend's house, so we only have to pay for something to share with our friends.

What I NEED to work on is making my breakfasts and lunches while also cooking dinner - that way, I don't have to wake up earlier or starve/spend money. It's a habit I need to work on - usually there's enough time between when I start cooking to when the food is done that I could easily get my food for the next day done as well, so I plan to start doing that. Of course, I plan to work out and eat more veggies, but the plan takes a while to come to fruition - although the veggies are happening more often!

The point is, I'm trying to figure out ways to make my life easier while also meeting our basic needs - but in a cost-effective manner. It's a balancing act of convenience, responsibility, and budget. It's worth it to spend a little money for ease on the weekend IF we've been good the rest of the week.

Yay/Boos: 4th of July edition

On my locked-up previous personal online journal, I used to do what I called "Yay/Boos", which was listing the latest going on in my life and ranking them as either good things (Yay) or bad (Boo). Yes, I know, fairly obvious ranking system - I over-explain. Here we go!

• Yay! My life is busy again - with purpose! I have work stuff that needs to be accomplished, which makes me excited about the future while also feeling like I have self-worth. 
• Boo. Unfortunately, my ridiculousness likes to manifest itself in procrastination, which means I get a little bit done every day, but not as much as I should. I also have been using "work" as my excuse to not work on the around-the-home projects I wanted to complete this summer. The only thing preventing me from doing both are my own lame excuses and feeling the "need" (not a need at all) of relaxing before work kicks in around mid-August. No one to blame but myself for these setbacks.
• Yay! I just got a mild kick-in-the-butt to get some stuff done NOW, as I've been given a deadline of sorts that will force me to work. I needed it - I procrastinate, but I work well on deadlines. 
• Boo. Deadlines and work stuff resulted in my having to bow out of a project that I'd committed to previously. My reasons for bowing out were legitimate, but I shouldn't have agreed to doing it in the first place. I upset someone, which as a natural people-pleaser I hate doing, but I have to own that they have a right to be upset and I also have to own that I did, in fact, screw up a little on this one. 
• Yay! 4th of July-related: our friends the S's hosted a BBQ that was really fun. We really like our local circle of friends, and the location of the S's house is remote enough that we were actually able to watch several different firework shows, then play with our own (legal) fireworks while we listened to a (very well-selected) playlist at loud volume without disturbing any neighbors - it's that remote, haha. It was such a great night. Lots of laughs, good food, good times!
• Boo. It got chilly when it got dark, so brilliant me thought it'd be a good idea to have a small cup of coffee to help keep warm. I'm still awake about 3 hours later. I really need to fully quit the caffeine and never partake of it again. 
• Yay! A portion of the BBQ was also spent discussing our upcoming camping weekend. I'm so excited for it - I haven't been camping since I was in high school (not counting actual summer camps - those don't count since you have a bed ;D). I'm not exactly an outdoorsy type, but I do enjoy hanging out outdoors, and the basic hanging out outdoors. It's the hiking that doesn't appeal to me as much (well, super-lengthy ones, and only because I'm out of shape). 
• Yay! I had to make fruit salad for the BBQ today, and even buying the "cheap" fruit resorted in a ton of leftovers that didn't even go in the (very large) salad. The salad was completely gone by the end of the BBQ, so now I have tons of delicious extra fruit for snacking but not in an overwhelming amount! (Small related side-boo: the store I went to didn't have blueberries, and I bought the yellow necatrines instead of the white ones, therefore not making my "Red White and Blue fruit salad" idea. But it's nitpicking, really.)
• Boo. Came home, people are being morons on the internet (not directed at me, thankfully), and it made me have anger feels. I didn't troll or anything, but it still annoyed me. 
• Yay! I had some fun craft inspirations recently, and it makes me want to get to craftin'. I haven't had true crafting motivation in a while, so it's nice to have it again. 

On that note, I have some list-making to do for the next few days, so I'm going to do that.

Summer projects 2012

Ok, first off, holy crap HOW IS IT JUNE ALREADY?

It feels like the year is flying by, and I still can't believe how fast it went. Is that just a thing as one gets older, we lose all sense of time? Or do the days just stretch out so long that we lose sight of them until they've passed and accrued into months and years?

Anyway, I'm not here to wax poetic, I'm here to plan projects. Main reason being right now I have very little coming up, job postings are already drying up *sigh*, and I need SOMETHING to distract me other than daily housework. Seriously, I suck as a housewife - I'm getting better, but man oh man it's a chore to make me do chores. Yet when I re-purpose the idea as a "project", it somehow gets done. *shrug* Don't know how or why, but I'm going to run with it.

Last summer my project was decorating our living room, dining area, and bedroom walls. This wasn't too much fancy stuff, just lots of framing free artwork from the internets, personal pictures, and hanging my own canvas/shadowbox collages to dress up the joint. Whatever, it worked, I was able to do it for relatively cheap, and it really added motivation to keeping our home cleaner for both The Hubs and myself, because we finally LIKED where we lived and wanted to keep it looking pretty.

So aside from finding a job, what else can I do to occupy my time so I feel I have worth and don't go insane? Well, I finally figured out what I wanted to work on, and it's actually two things that should be relatively cheap and fun to do as well!

Project #1: Get the pantry/kitchen in order.

You guys, our pantry is a disaster. Like, there are designated shelves for stuff, but it's still packed with crap because when I think of "cleaning", the one area I rarely consider is the pantry. So there's near-empty boxes of stale crackers and spices I used once that we need to get rid of, like, YESTERDAY. Then I would like to find an organization system to get the pantry in order... I'm still debating if the pantry will stay a pantry for goods, or change it over to housing pots/pans/plates, or a mixture of the two. We have a TINY kitchen, where counter space is at a premium, and I have an awful lot of stuff that needs to be stored SOMEWHERE that our tiny cabinets can't quite house. Switching out the pantry and cabinet functions (even if it's just a couple) might be just the way to go... I dunno, still deciding. So here's the plan for dealing with the pantry:

1. Purge. Throw out the expired/stale/carbs-I-can't-eat-anyway crap out!
2.  Decide on organization and designate. Ultimately, I want each shelf to have a specific purpose, and the best way to go would be to use the open-the-door-THERE-IT-IS visibility of our big pantry (Which, seriously, was one of the major things that made me go OMG THIS APARTMENT IS PERFECT, it's RARE to have such a large closet/pantry in one bedrooms where I'm from). Once I get it purged, I think it'll be clear to me what I should do with it, and I'm thinking that most likely it'll be turned into more of a storage space for pots/tupperware than for spices/food. Might serve my tiny kitchen space better. I'll update as I work on it!

Project #2: Decorate some more!

Yes, there is still more decorating I want to do. Not a ton, but it's something to do that will make me happy.

The funny thing is that the reason we didn't decorate for so long is that for most of my life, I've moved around. I'm not an army brat, but I am a child of 3 divorces. The longest I've lived somewhere since I was 10 was 3 years... until The Hubs and I moved in together. We've been in our apartment almost 6 years now... but it took almost 5 for me to realize that we should FINALLY decorate! We're hoping to move in the next year or two, but since we'll most likely be here for a little while longer, might as well finish the decorating job.

There's not a lot I want/need to do. Only two projects, really.

1. The big blank wall in the living room - in my decorating spree last summer, the only thing I could not figure out was what the hell to do with the shared wall between the apartments. It's just this big blank space, and it stymied me. I think I have an idea that would work:

   

   Click the link to go to the site!

   Obviously my version will not be for a nursery, nor am I decorating with an adorable baby girl. (At least not yet ;D.) But this would be a cute way to fill up a lot of the empty space without overwhelming the living room, I think! Not to mention it's certainly reasonable, cost-wise. I'll use fabrics in browns, soft pinks, and pale yellows with soft gold-painted letters.
2. The Dining table - I've had this project in my head forever and I've got all the pieces to complete it, but I just haven't gotten around to it. My table is this fabulous 50's-diner style piece that I loooove, but I've been wanting to make it nice so we're not tempted to use it as a storage piece as we tend to do. (Us eat at the table? Whaaaa?). So I want to slap a tablecloth on it (a nice white cotton one, simple) that I might need to make myself 'cuz the dimensions of the table are weird. Then I want to finish my cute table runner that I'm making out of dollar-store dishtowels (seriously, it'll be SUPER-cute and so easy), and a centerpiece out of this awesome thrift store bowl I bought that looks like a lemon cut in half with white paper flowers and fake lemons I found. Since my kitchen/dining room decor is lemon/lime with turquoise and silver accents, it'll look SO CUTE. Plus maybe it'll make us eat at the table more often! :D

I also want to finish overhauling this cute straw-like handbag I have that was given to me by a friend who didn't want it - I meant to finish it last summer, and I got as far as fixing some torn seams. I'd like to add some bright yellow and orange fabric flowers to it to dress it up.

Figuring out my summer projects actually makes me happy and really excited for the summer, which is a nice change from the dread I usually experience. ;) It'll be a good distraction that benefits more than myself. Plus it'll give me something to blog about! Yays all around!

I said I was back, didn't I? Oops.

Well, I thought I'd be able to post more now that I have a computer, but this was NOT my week. OY. Which was a shame, because I had a really great end of the week last week, which is when I last posted. But the next day happened, and MAN, life just went to Hades, y'know?

Nothing super-major-bad, just... a bunch of little things adding up to one big emotional state. My classes are having their first tests, my temp job is exhausting and causing frustrations for me and my supervisor (who is also The Hubs' besty - it's nothing huge, just my stress was making me snippy and he was frustrated because, well, what dude likes dealing with a snippy girl that he's NOT sleeping with?), I've recently had some medical diagnoses that are requiring lifestyle changes that I'm still dealing with and trying to find my footing, and Valentine's Day had some drama (it's resolved, but still... no one wants to cry on Valentine's Day). Plus all these changes and demands have simply been overwhelming and our apartment is in desperate need of a deep cleaning... but we're so tired when we have time off that, well, we'd rather chill out and enjoy each others company. Not an excuse, just being honest. We still need to be grownups and clean after ourselves.

Things are looking up for this week, though. I took one of the two tests and got a 100%, which is awesome, but this is the class I'm having an easier time with. (Granted, I'm having an easier time with it because the professor is excellent at making her expectations clear and her instructions understandable... my other class is pretty much the textbook example of how college professors don't know how to freakin' teach.) The medical stuff is private (sorry), but be assured I'm not dying or anything anytime soon; however, if I don't make lifestyle changes then my death would speed up, for sure. Not like next year or anything... you get my drift, right? I need to be better about how I live my life. I was doing well, then the stress made me fall back. I did notice how different I feel when I'm not being careful with how I treat my body.

I still have my test in my other class that's stressing me out, but a nice 3-day weekend has been a palate cleanser. Tomorrow is a day for just studying, chores, and errand-running; my tutoring session has been cancelled for the day so my student could have a school-free weekend as well. (His mom requested it, and I wasn't about to fight it, haha!) Which is great, because now I don't have to work towards a deadline that ultimately eats about 2 hours out of my day (1 hour round-trip travel + 1 hour tutoring) which is technically my "day off". So tomorrow The Hubs and I are tackling laundry and dishes, I'm going to the grocery store for the week (I'm still doing the freezer cooking, but this week is NOT the week for the next round of cooking), and I'm going to do some prep work for the stupid written exam Wednesday night (ugh). I'm oddly looking forward to it!

Something of relevance soon, I swear. Sorry, it's just been cray-cray. 

What Works for Me: Good Food FAST at home

As crazy as I am for the holidays, I figured this blog could use a "palate cleanser" post; even I get tired of talking about decorations. (Not THAT tired, but tired enough to discuss something else for one post.)

This'll be a short post, too ('cuz lord knows, I can TALK/WRITE for days). The inspiration last night was realizing that I have a small arsenal of recipes that I cook when I'm too tired to cook but also want something that's homemade-tasting and cheaper than take-out.

I wanted to post them, as well as other resources/ideas for emergency meals, because a purpose for this blog is to share what helpful tips I've learned for others who might not be as good at the art of housewifery, like myself for the most part. I'm all about education, people, even on my blog.

So here is a list of my quick-n-tasty meals that take literally 15 minutes to cook. Seriously!

• Pesto Ravioli and Italian Sausage -  Frozen cheese ravioli, pre-made pesto, and turkey Italian sausage (we prefer the spicy version). The sausage takes 8 minutes on the Foreman grill, and I boil the water for the ravioli while the grill warms up. I'll also throw in some frozen veggies from Trader Joe's, like their cauliflower/romanesco combo that comes with a garlic butter sauce; I nuke my servings in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes, covered with some cling-wrap (but not touching the food). 
• Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese - I use Trader Joe's carton of tomato soup, 'cuz we like it and it doesn't taste as ketchup-y as the condensed stuff. Sometimes we eat it as is, but I'll vary it up by adding in some drained canned cannelini beans, a single Italian sausage (meat taken out of the casing and browned), and fresh baby spinach at the end and some parmesan cheese. As the soup warms up over medium heat (when it starts to bubble, I switch to low), I do my grilled cheese mise en place (thanks, "Top Chef", for helping me make grilled cheese sound pretentious!). I butter the bread (I sprinkle garlic powder over the buttered bread and spread it a little with my butter knife) and pre-set the cheeses I'm using. If you like American cheese (which I do sometimes, for the melty factor), I suggest prepping the cheese leaving one side of the cheese wrapper attached, then alternating the unwrapped slices so they're easy to grab. I pre-prep the sandwiches because once the first sandwich is done, the other sandwiches grill SUPER-FAST.
  
  A sandwich variation I like for feeling fancy is to make a butter compound with parmesan cheese and garlic powder for the outside, then fill the middle with proscuitto and mozzarella. Mmmm. 
• COUSCOUS! Couscous is the wonder side dish. You literally have to just boil water! For flavor, I boil the couscous in chicken or vegetable broth, and mix in butter and a garlic seasoning mix from McCormick. I'll either mix in chopped pre-cooked chicken if I have it, or turkey Italian Sausage or chicken apple sausage (which The Hubs loves). 
• The reason I use sausage so much, aside from it's freakin' delicious, is that it works well for me as an emergency protein. The Hubs is a devout meat-eater, and he likes sausage, plus if I forget to take meat out from the freezer the night before for dinner, it only takes about a half-hour to defrost in a cold water bath, which makes it SO convenient.
• "Wonton" Soup - I put "wontons" in quotation marks because it's not authentic wontons; I use frozen potstickers (the chicken ones from Trader Joe's - why yes, I AM obsessed with that store!). It's SO GOOD, though, seriously. Bring 32 oz. of chicken broth to a boil, then turn it down to medium-low; add the potstickers and Asian-style veggies to your liking (I use frozen shelled edamame, chopped baby bok choy, water chestnuts, and carrots shreds), and some frozen shrimp. Watch the shrimp - you don't want them overcooking, and they'll defrost & cook FAST in the hot broth. I also add soy sauce, minced garlic, ground ginger (go easy if you're not a ginger fan - I only add about 1/4 tsp.) and a little hot pepper flakes and sesame oil to the broth, sorry, forgot to mention that! (Go slow with the soy sauce - you can always add more later, you don't want it TOO salty!)

Some other helpful links:  YourNutritionista has 3 easy microwave meals (and other recipes, if you check out her "Easy Dinners" section); The Noodle Soup Oracle (which has some damned randomly fabulous-sounding ideas, mmmm); My Fridge Food lets you enter what you have on hand, then provides recipes!

Hopefully these are some helpful, easy recipes! I like them because they use pre-made stuff which saves times, but they come together to create what feels like a full meal. Plus it lets me be lazy, and if I'm being honest, I'm ALWAYS going to choose the lazy route, but it saves us money and The Hubs still thinks I'm cooking. ;p

If you have any similar "quick and easy" meals like these, let me know! I love getting new recipes!