Soup, Anyone?

Every year Ken buys as many turkeys as he can when they're on sale and puts them in the freezer. We were getting low on freezer space so we started to pull out leftover turkey carcasses to add to the one he just smoked for Christmas. There were seven. Seven..whole..carcasses..to be used for soup. I guess I didn't monitor Ken well enough because last night he grabbed our biggest pot and threw them all in. Brilliant.

I can tell you this though. Early this morning, when I heard him in the kitchen starting to pull the meat off the bones, I pretended to sleep for as long as I could. He did come in to check on me a few times and see if I was up yet. But I wasn't having it. I wasn't going to spend hours going through meat and bones from seven turkeys. So I mumbled something about needing my rest from being sick...

He did an excellent job though and the soup turned out great! Hope we don't get tired of it! Let me also say that I managed to disappear when it came time to ladle the soup into containers. I didn't want any part of that either. But I cleaned while Ken did that part so it was win-win for both of us. Now we are both hanging out in the bedroom with the below picture portraying what still sits on the counter, waiting for the other to get up and find room in the freezer and put it all away. Could I be so lucky as to find something else to conveniently pull me away? Doubtful, but I can dream...

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

I couldn't find any ugly Christmas sweaters to wear for Christmas day. However, Ken came up with this brilliant idea to go buy some cheap sweatshirts from WalMart and make our own. The rule was that Ken got to make one for me, and I got to make one for him, with no questions asked. Ken made a truly ugly Christmas sweater for me. I, on the other hand, think I may have found a new calling and might go into business for myself next season. Here is where we started:

The front of Ken's sweatshirt had Rudolph and the other reindeer with Santa's sleigh, candy canes, and a gorgeous Christmas tree decorated in jewels with presents beautifully nestled underneath. The front of my sweatshirt was Santa made from a snow leopard cut out from a different WalMart shirt (again, the rule was that no questions could be asked), using the tassels and the eyeballs. He decked out the tassels with beads, gave Santa purple brows and a pink nose, and added our names to each sleeve.

I added iron-on wings to the back of Ken's sweatshirt. On mine, he painted a Christmas tree with fire coming out of the trunk, a dog with a pile of steaming poo and paw prints (I wish I had a close-up of that), and suns/hearts with wings on each elbow.

Let me tell you this: I wore that sweatshirt the entire day - stiff paint, beaded tassels, and all. I didn't think I would last because I was sick (bummer), but I made it work. However, I could not stop staring at Ken's sweatshirt and patting myself on the back, so maybe that got me through. We had an absolute blast with each other making these on Christmas Eve. Merry late Christmas everyone!!

A Christmas Carol...Er--Um, Story

My parents treated Ken and me to "A Christmas Story" play last night. It was a lot of fun and very well done! Lots of laughs were shared and I absolutely loved when Flick's tongue got stuck on the pole. Ken couldn't get over how the narrator was able to memorize all of his lines and I was really impressed with the stage set changes. My dessert at intermission was pretty tasty, too! Sorry for the bad iPhone pictures. I wish I could have taken some during the play!

A Pinterest "Do"

I started the morning off right with a fancy Christmas drink made specially for me by Ken and some cinnamon roll waffles (found on Pinterest). They weren't bad, albeit a bit dry...but they were so easy and I cut out all that wait time usually spent baking them in the oven. Because ten extra minutes is a long time to wait when you're hungry. Right?

Also, is "specially" even a word? And did I use "albeit" right? Ever since my embarrassing mishap (even mishap doesn't look right) on Facebook where I posted the wrong name of the play I went to with my family, I am "especially" cautious.

Road Warrior

Well, sort of. At least I think I am. I drive a lot for work and used to stop for fast food or gas station snacks. I would fill up on crap: convenient, fast, and tasty. Easy to eat while still driving. Did I mention that it tastes good? However, packing last night's clean eats is easier on the wallet. And hips!

The one downside is that I have to sit in my car and take the time to eat safely (rice is hard to eat while driving, been there and done that!). Hence the time to write this up while I eat my grilled pork chop, brown rice, black and garbanzo beans, and an orange. What?!?!

Tip of the day: peel your orange before you leave, even if you are running behind. It will save you from an outfit decked out with orange peel and juice that will inevitably squirt all of the place. Car smells good though. Also, buy your oranges from Sam's. They take steroids.

Fog Walk

Took the pups for a walk in the fog this weekend. Not a soul was out because visibility was zero - so we took full advantage. Little Miss Haley didn't stop running except for this one squirrel she treed (see pic below). She dies for park walks and it's fun to watch her zig and zag as different scents catch her sniffer. Sky, on the other hand, learned to pace herself a long time ago...

Progress

Well, it seems that Sky and the cat are making progress in their relationship. Maybe they have group meetings while we are gone and are working on their differences.

Mansion from Mole Hill #2

To remind you of what a mansion from a mole hill even means, go here:

http://mansionsfrommolehills.blogspot.com/2011/10/mondays-mansion-from-mole-hill.html

The first ever mansion from a mole hill happened over a year ago. And today, I bring you the second! One solution per DIY problem per year is enough, right?

I started with these wine plates. They are really nice plates and there is nothing wrong with them. But my BFF Pinterest (BFF to a lot of people, I'm sure) gave me the DIY itch and I just had to do something creative. I wanted to work with what I had and not spend any money. But, of course, the paint colors I already own just weren't right. So, $18 (only 7 bucks of which were for this project) and 3 new paint colors later from Hobby Lobby, I got started.

Before:

I taped off the edges of the plates, thinking this would make a clean line for me after I was done painting. I would be wrong about that (but I didn't know that until the end so my spirits were still high at this point). And, it was a lot of work getting straight tape to line up perfectly on a round plate.

My next strategy was to test the back of a plate to make sure that acrylic paint would even work on an already finished surface. The plan was to use painters tape after I painted all of the plates white to get a perfectly crisp chevron pattern and stripe pattern but the tape just tore the paint to shreds as I gently lifted it up. A little upsetting, but I decided to plunge forward (could be a pun if you'd like because I do feel like this project went down the drown fast). 

Each plate got 4 coats of white acrylic paint to cover the wine picture underneath. I didn't know that acrylic paint dries so quickly that it cracks because the outside layer dries faster than the underside. But I kept going. I printed off a chevron pattern and cut out one strip, tracing it on the plates as a stencil. Very, very difficult to paint straight lines, even if they are traced for you. FYI.

Here is a close up of the finished product:

It's not even close to perfect and it looks crafty, but I'm happy that it still makes me smile more than the wine plates from before. There is not a straight line or perfect circle to be found on these plates, but I feel like they reflect more of what I am going for in life and home. Now I just need to figure out which spot the yellow plate looks better in:

Before again:

 

Which do you prefer? Fun, imperfect prints with color or the classy, sophisticated wine theme? Another FYI: I would never do this project again or recommend this method. It didn't turn out to my standards and was too much of a pain. But it still makes me happy to look at so I'll keep it...until I get tired of it per my usual with everything else I own! 

Four Whole Days

It starts now.

Fun to Come!!

I have three projects I'm working on this weekend. A sneak peek for you:

Nostalgia

It's amazing how being threatened as a child that the nasties on the plate in front you will be your breakfast if you don't finish it, can turn those meals into favorites. Plaza soup, chili, and ham, beans, and cornbread...I'm sure there were others but these are the ones I remember staring at the most. And now? Instead of only a few beans and mostly cornbread, I give you a perfectly proportioned adult meal that I would gladly eat for breakfast, too!

I'm sorry! Can I watch RHOBH now?

So I'm checked into my hotel for the evening and for what seems like the first time in forever, I decide to do a little yoga to relax. I had the TV on Bravo already, waiting in anticipation for the new episode of RHOBH (Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) that was to start at 8pm.

I'm doing my yoga, still paying attention to the TV so I don't miss the start of my show. I'm breathing, counting my breaths, trying to breathe deeper, still tense... You know, normal yoga stuff. And then at exactly 8pm (what starts at that time? Yes, my show), I lose all signal to the TV. No. Joke.

The yogi gods have to be really upset that I'm multitasking their sacred practice with RHOBH to go so low as to knock out my signal. So I'm like, ok, I'll go with it! Learn from the process of yoga. I use the silence to go inward and I tell myself that I don't need to see that episode anyway. It's important to take time to be quiet and rest in silence to rejuvenate and grow.

And then I start thinking about hotels and the hidden nastiness that's lurking all over the carpet that I was just stretching on. It sure looks clean but that's why it's patterned. To fool suckers like me that just want to watch RHOBH but instead are being taught a lesson in life from the gods of yoga. Wait. Refocus...Still breathing, counting breaths, trying to connect with my third eye...

I thought if I tried hard enough they would let me watch the rest of my show. But over an hour later, my TV still looks like this and I feel that I have learned nothing from this little lesson. It just feels like a cruel joke. Like taking candy from a fat kid. Aww, i just hurt my own feelings by saying that! Sorry...

A New Tradition...I Hope

I know a lot of people do this but I read about it last year and tucked it away for this November. Each day for the month of November, Ken and I are writing something that we are thankful for on a little card. At the end of the month, we will read them together and get to see what the other person was thankful for. No peeksies!

I'm a little surprised that Ken didn't put up any complaints about the whole thing (maybe that should go on one of my cards...I wasn't expecting it to be so easy!). He did, however, write himself a little grocery list on the back of one of the cards that I left sitting out as his friendly reminder to fill it out from missing the day before. Funny, he still has yet to fill out the card and he never went to the store. Mission hopefully accomplished for a new tradition every November! We shall see in another year how motivated I am.

It's easy to take things for granted and life can be challenging at times, so this little project seemed very fitting to remind us that we truly have a lot to be thankful for!

Pushed to the Limit

Since bringing the cat home, all she does is stay in her little room. When it's nighttime though, and she can hear the dogs and Ken snoring, she tiptoes all around the house. Poor cat doesn't realize she sounds like a clumsy horse that weighs a million and one pounds. I'm sure she thinks no one can hear her...

Anyway, we've been trying to expand her comfort zone and you can see from these pictures that being forced to socialize in the living room with the family does not make her happy. We give her the best goodies in an effort to trick her into being part of the clan but she's not having us yet.

Happy Election Day!

Did you vote?

I didn't.

I registered though.

Catnip: Speed for Kitties

Impulse Buys

We went to the new Sam's Club yesterday. While we were there, we grabbed some apples for an apple crisp recipe I wanted to try from Pinterest (it turned out to be a total Pinterest Do by the way as we made it twice in 12 hours). Some lady told us we had to peel the apples for the apple crisp. Lo and behold, a man came around five minutes later handing out little orange tickets that said to go to the booth in front of the frozen food section for a free stainless steel produce peeler. So I was in. I had apples to peel!

Well, before you get your free peeler you have to watch the five minute presentation on the stainless steel food slicer, which I will admit was pretty snazzy. After it was over, we got our freebie peeler and headed toward the checkout line. Next thing I know, I've been tricked by Ken into talking to a girl that was selling a flat iron I didn't want (didn't he notice me deliberately flirting with the floor so I wouldn't have to talk to her?) and he disappears. What does he come back with? An impulse buy. The snazzy food slicer that slices food like a mother (take that how you will). Guess what else it slices?

Fingers.

Yep, it slices fingers so well that I was asked to look for the rest of Ken's thumb in the cabbage he was just cutting. I found it resting on the underside of the slicer blade...

Guess I'm glad we got it because my apples were sliced to perfection. Can't say the same about Ken's thumb.

Happy 80th Birthday!

Sky's Gift from the Feline Gods

I'm a million percent sure I will not be able to walk tomorrow...

Finally decided to start working out again! Because of that, I will be crippled tomorrow. And for most of the next day. I worked out so hard to fit into my wedding dress. I ate well and drank water like it was my job. And, guess what? I felt amazing! I slept better, I felt better, and never felt the 3:00 slump. 

Here's what happens when you go balls-to-the-wall in an effort to squeeze into your wedding dress and the all-important day is over: you stop working out and start pigging out. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that if you want to feel like crap again! And feel like crap I did! I went back to eating nothing but sugar and processed foods in addition to a cup of coffee in the morning and a Diet Coke in the afternoon. No water. That was it. My sleep patterns are screwed, I feel awful, and have no energy. 

The goal of working with a trainer before the wedding was to lose inches, which I did. However, I just felt really lean. The goal now is to develop my muscles and get really strong. I plan to lift heavy, eat well, and let the rest take care of itself!

Strong is the new skinny!

I have officially started Jamie Eason's LiveFit program. I started it 2 weeks ago and wasn't able to be consistent so I am starting over with the workouts. The first month is just about gaining strength, so there is no cardio - just weights. The second month is still about gaining strength, but you add in some moderate intensity cardio here and there. The third month is about leaning out to show off all the hard work you put in so there is a lot of high intensity lifting/cardio. I'm excited to be working out again! 

I don't plan on following the diet plan though. I'm simply going to eat healthy the way that works best for my lifestyle. I can't exactly eat fish and broccoli on the road. Besides, the diet plan required too much thinking/prep/planning for me so it was an ultimate fail when I tried to stick to it. It was also too much food - I can't eat 6 oz. of meat every 3 hours, plus veggies, plus a carb. Once again, you have to figure out what works for you so that you can stick with it. The last month involves counting calories and macronutrients to ensure you get the proper combination to retain muscle while leaning out as well as carb cycling - all of which is too high maintenance for me. I do believe in the diet program she provides and know that I would probably get better results if I followed it, but it's just not something I am not willing to think so hard about. 

Anyway, here's to sticking to a healthy lifestyle!

You better believe I pulled it today.