Been laying around

After about a week of being at my parent’s house for recovery from my surgery, I was ready to be home in Kannapolis. Who knew my parents were so busy during the day and evenings? I saw my mom in the morning, my dad maybe once or twice during the day and then sometimes both of them for dinner at night. My aunt passed away a few weeks ago, so I know they were busy helping my cousins prepare for that. But I don’t know if that explains why they were always gone! I have to say though, it was nice being home and not having anything to do. The worst part was just running out of things to do – and feeling like I was on a routine of doing nothing. I would wake up, eat, watch a movie or read, take my medicine, sleep and repeat.

In total, I watched seven movies and read three books within four days (the first day at my parents, I just slept because I was drugged up on pain meds).

So needless to say, I was excited to be home so I could be a little more physically active and just be in my own space. I was a lot more active than I think I was supposed to be. The last few days, I’ve been so exhausted from errands, cooking, cleaning and well, just being me! I know I should rest more so my body will heal better, so that will be a big focus next week.

Well, here’s to starting off the weekend, though I have to say I think my weekend started on Thursday. We had our THIRD dinner guest :-) over, which was wonderful. And yesterday, we met one of the boy’s best friends and a high school friend for dinner. Today, we will be with my family for my aunt’s service, and tomorrow will be her burial. Lots going on for sure. Hopefully I’ll be able to sneak in a few naps over the next few days!

Operation Kitchen Re-organization

Last weekend, while putting the dishes away, I found myself frustrated at how I was stacking up things I used every day, like baking trays and cooking bowls. While our kitchen is big, there also is not a lot of storage space and what we have is full. That is why I put reorganizing the kitchen on my list of to-dos.

At my last apartment, I bought a wire corner shelf to help organize some of my spices. I figured they made regular storage shelves as well. After checking out Walmart, Sears, IKEA and Target online, I found that these wire shelves are called either stacking shelves or helping shelves. Who knew you had to be so specific to get estimated pricing?! I took measures of our storage space – about 18”x18” for the bottom and 18”x10” for the upper cabinets, and embarked on a little shopping adventure to get in-store pricing before I splurged.

A day in the life

When I woke up Wednesday, I didn’t know what time my surgery would actually be (I was told I’d have to call later that day). My plan was to get up early so I could do items on my to-do list - for the day and for the week. As you may recall, it was an ambitious list. Unfortunately - and well, fortunately, the boy let me sleep in until I couldn’t anymore - which was until around 9:30. So, this post is for the boy who didn’t believe that I had a long list of things to do and to prove to him that I get lots done during the day!

My first herb

I got my first herb yesterday – and I forgot to mention it! The garden is no closer to getting done, but I kind of forced myself to buy the herb. My plan for yesterday night was to try a new crab cake recipe and it called for basil. Amazingly, I could not find basil anywhere (I checked at three different stores!), but I did find a live basil plant among the tomatoes in Harris Teeter. I decided to buy it and even get a pot for it.

It’s a lot bigger than I thought it looked, but I’m excited to have my first herb. Now, I just have to get the garden ready!

Summer List

If you can’t tell, I like lists. So here’s another list – list of things I’d like to do before the end of summer.

• Make fresh pasta.
• Make a REALLY pretty cupcake.
• Try a recipe with an ingredient I’ve never used.
• Use the steamer my mother bought me.
• Go out dancing in a fabulous outfit.
• Use the backyard for something – anything!
• Find a new recipe to make a chocolate cake from scratch. The last one I made was just OK.

From the Brilliant Mind of Tim

Today on why Tim rubs babies like he rubs dogs:

"For the first couple of years, babies are like dogs. They like squeaky things, bright colors and playing tug."

Broiled Chicken with Onion & Apples

I felt ambitious today, so I thought I’d try a new recipe for dinner. Thanks to an old issue of House Beautiful, I got a sneak peek at Rocco DiSpirito’s cookbook, “Rocco Gets Real.” It features everyday, easy and delicious recipes supposedly anyone can make. If the recipe I tried is any indication of how the rest of the book is, it might be worth me getting!

Here’s the recipe with some of my own tried and true commentary (in italics):

BROILED CHICKEN LEGS WITH ONIONS, APPLES & CHUNKY LEMON-PEPPER SAUCE

• 2½ pounds chicken legs
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 large Vidalia onions, peeled
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and quartered
• 2 tablespoons Bertolli extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 10-ounce jar Tabasco Spicy Red Pepper Jelly
• 3 lemons
• Fresh coarsely ground black pepper

Preheat broiler on low. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Place chicken in center of pan. (I used two chicken leg quarters.)

Cut each onion into 12 thin wedges. Scatter onions and apples around chicken. (I actually ended up using only 1 onion and 1 Granny Smith apple.)

Drizzle everything with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil 10 minutes. Turn chicken over and stir apples and onions to expose uncooked surfaces. Turn broiler on high. Broil until chicken is charred and cooked through, about another 10 minutes. (I checked the chicken at 10 minutes and it was still unfinished, so I broiled it another 10 minutes to get that pretty crisp look.)

Meanwhile, heat pepper jelly in a small saucepan until melted. (I could not find pepper jelly to save my life – and I checked three stores! I ended up buying a chili pepper hoagie mix. I guess it worked OK. The boy liked it!) Peel the lemons and remove the pith. Dice the lemons, reserving the juice. Remove jelly from heat; add diced lemon and juice. Stir to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve, spoon sauce on top of chicken, onions, and apples and top with fresh coarse-ground pepper.

I served this alongside stove-top, stir-fried green beans. I’ll definitely be trying this recipe again. It was so light and even on my diet – I could eat it!

Just see how much I can accomplish when I put my mind to it! LOL

To-do this week

I didn’t quite finish my to-do list last week, so I’m putting them on the list for this week – although my week will actually end on Wednesday because of Thursday’s surgery. But I will add a few items just to be ambitious.

From last week:

• Go through our DVD collections and organize them.
• Finish digging out and outlining my herb garden. (Last week, we got a lot of rain and this week, it's supposed to be super hot. Just don't know when I'll get to this...)
• Take more naps.
• Get creative ideas together for a new web site I’m building.

Additions:

• Clear out the DVR before my surgery. This should be interesting because I’ve DVRed like 10 movies!
• Reorganize the kitchen so it looks less cluttered.

Grocery shopping

When did it become July 11? Where has this year gone? Sigh.

I'm thinking of what I'm going to try to cook this evening. Just because I can't eat it anything good, doesn't mean I can't cook it. And I love to cook. Maybe I'll try a Tyler Florence crab cake recipe I saw in this month's issue of House Beautiful. Or, to show the boy that I do go back and look through old magazines (he thinks I'm a magazine hoarder), maybe I'll try a recipe for cheddar chicken from the May 2010 issue of Real Simple.

This is why he doesn't grocery shop - and I do! He just doesn't think about food when he goes to the store, unless he's hungry THAT moment (and even then sometimes, he doesn't think about it. He'd rather go to Cook-Out). He thinks about things he needs on a daily basis, like deodorant and toothpaste.

Before he left for work today, I asked him if he needed anything at the grocery store. I brought it up because I had ONE slice of toast for breakfast this morning because we were out.

"Oh yeah, we need that. And I want the thin slices like we had before," the boy says.

"Do you want me to make tea for you, or do you just want soda this week?" I ask.

"I like tea."

"OK, I'll add sugar to the list of items to buy," I say.

"Oh, and I guess I want sandwich meat since you're buying bread," he says.

"OK, do you want cheese or any thing like horseradish for your sandwiches?"

"Uh... I'm OK."

"SEE - that's how you build a grocery list!" I yell, as I'm writing down the start of a grocery list. (Because, you see, the boy doesn't believe in shopping lists like me.)

Sigh, well - off to my "womanly" duties!

Just a list of thoughts for today

1. Tim bought a hammock stand today. Just another great place where either one of us can get away with our thoughts or to do things like relax and read. He doesn’t know if he’ll keep it yet, mostly because the bugs in our backyard are ridiculous! But who knows, we’ll see in time!

2. It really pays to stick to my diet! I had pho for lunch yesterday – beef broth with rice noodles. And I was dying all day and I still feel some of it today. It’s mostly been heartburn, but nothing that has been too unbearable. I did make turkey burgers for dinner yesterday and they were delicious. I made them on the stove. I sandwiched the meat between two pieces of white bread, lettuce and tomato, and I used condiments!

3. We have some grass!

4. And we have more weeds.

The evolution of Sebastian's dog bowls

There is no denying the fact that Sebastian is the most spoiled dog ever. However, this fact became even more evident when the boy and I began to move in together. I’ve had Sebastian for three years now and it’s true, he’s the love of my life. The boy and I have equally shared the responsibility of spoiling the dog as much as we can – dinner table scraps, extra long walks, so many treats we’ve lost track of them all and a whole lot more. He even has his own bedroom with three actual dog beds and a pillow-turned-bed. This specific post is dedicated to the evolution of Sebastian’s dog food bowls and how even though he has had a perfectly good dog bowl set, we’ve continued to buy him more!

Now there is reasoning behind the fact that his dog bowls have changed, but it all points to the fact that we were simply spoiling the dog. LOL

Movies

Since I got HBO this week, I’ve been setting the DVR to record a lot of movies. I always do this when I first get HBO, but I slow down about three weeks into it. For now, I’m watching a lot of movies mostly out of boredom or trying to get through my Netflix queue.

Here are the movies I’ve watched this week:

A new list of food I can eat!

I can check off another thing on my list of to-dos after today. I scheduled my surgery for next Thursday!

The bad news is that I have to stick to this diet for another week. The good news is that I learned I can eat a lot more than I previously thought! Of all people, you’d think I would know not trust everything I see online. But for anyone else who might be looking for a list of approved foods pre- and post-gallbladder surgery, here are some of the things my surgeon confirmed I could eat (and are still good!).

Three thoughts

One/

How is it that I JUST discovered Cupcake Wars? I decided to record a few episodes this week and so far, I’m obsessed. It has taken me two episodes to get used to the format, because unlike other cooking competition shows I watch (like Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, etc), the competitors change each episode. It’s truly inspiring to see how chefs have infused unusual flavors into their cakes! I hope I’ll get to bake again soon because I’d love to try some of the things these people are doing.

Two/

Our friendly neighbors

Since moving in together, I've done a good job of getting to know some of the neighbors. During our first week at the house, I ran into a huddle of women while walking Sebastian. They, too, were taking their dogs out. We immediately became friendly and I got to learn more about the neighborhood and the folks who lived around me.

When referring to our neighbors, I also mean to include the wonderful wildlife that lives on Main Street. So far, we've only met squirrels and birds, but that's enough for me. On our second day of living in the house, we noticed a birds nests on our porch. We didn't know if it was occupied or not, but our question was answered just a few days later when I found this on our porch!

Yes, that is a bird's egg. Was this a sign that our bird did not like us disturbing her home? It gets better!

The next day, I found this on our porch ledge!

Getting used to this new diet

So far, I’m doing OK on this new diet. There are a few things I love about it. I love that I can drink as much apple juice as I want. And I LOVE apple juice. I can also drink as much cranberry juice as I want. Yay!

I also have a ton of applesauce and Jello in the fridge. Not sure when I’ll get to those, but they are great snacks.

I realized today that I do not like oatmeal though. It’s on the list of approved foods. I want to say I used to like it. I thought it was crunchier but after making it today, I don’t think I can do the mush. I even got the apple cinnamon mush. Just not my cup of tea.

Well, the boy's just left me to go to work. Yesterday was his first full day back, and I missed him like crazy. I did everything I could to keep myself busy – laundry, cleaning, cooking (food I couldn’t eat!), watching TV, etc. And I still missed him. I need a job. I need to be preoccupied! That’s why I decided this morning to make a to-do list of big projects this week! Hopefully I’ll stay busy, but not be too exhausted! Here goes nothing!

Things to get done this week

In no particular order, here are things I need to get done this week:

• Go through our CD collections and organize them.
• Go through our DVD collections and organize them.
• Find “Water for Elephants” so I can re-read it.
• Finish digging out and outlining my herb garden.
• Take more naps.
• Take Sebastian on longer walks.
• Get HBO.
• Get creative ideas together for a new web site I’m building.
• Schedule my surgery.

I should put “Apply for Jobs” on the list as well, but I feel so exhausted from looking. I’m sure there will be a few I can apply for this week, but it feels like second nature now. I don’t even think about it anymore.

More gallbladder update

I have the best family and friends in the world. The boy is starting work again this week, so my family has volunteered for me to stay with them post-surgery... whenever that will be. I was also supposed to have a girl's night on Wednesday and they're trying to figure out a place that would serve bland food so I could join them. Probably not going to happen, but super sweet of them! Sigh, amazing how much can change in so little time. So far, all I've eaten is a boiled chicken breast, rice and plain toast. Sounds delish right?

So last night before bed, I started thinking - what can I actually eat? After much digging, I finally found a list. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a list. Everyone just says, low calorie, low fat, no acidity, etc. etc. OK, I got that. But can I eat mashed potatoes? Corn? Apples? "Avoid anything that tastes good" is just too broad for me. Here is a much better rule of thumb: stick to a clear liquid diet - or I can pretty much eat anything I can see through. LOL. Here are some specifics...

Happy July 4th, and how it all went downhill

This weekend started off great, but it's amazing how quickly things that turn around. Kannapolis had their annual fireworks show on Saturday, so we decided to invite some folks over for food, drinks and a mini-pre-celebration. We had a blast before heading to downtown to watch the real show.

Sitting on the brick sidewalk on North Research Campus Drive, we excitedly watched the 20-minute fireworks show. It was amazing - and it gets better every year. I wish I had taken photos because right now would be a great place to post them.

After the show, we came home to clean up. That's when the night started going downhill for me. I had noticed my stomach hurting after we ate. I had previously experienced this pain - upper abdominal pain that was very dull, but numbing. It always came after a large, often greasy dinner. I previously drank Pepto-Bismol to ease this pain and in an hour or two, it subsided. I tried that, and after an hour, nothing was feeling good. The boy suggested I try milk because it was a base - and the food we were eating probably had a lot of acidity. At that point, I was willing to try anything.

It's been a long time

It's been a long time since I last posted on this. I am thinking about writing again thanks to a lot of wonderful blogs I've read lately. Maybe they're making a comeback... or maybe they're like the pair of jeans you forget about in the back of your closet. You put 'em on, and remember how wonderful they once were and made you feel. Yep, still feels good.

I feel like I've really lost touch with my writing, so I'm hoping this will be an outlet for me to practice and get into the groove of writing again. Here goes nothing.

So much has happened since my last post. Then again, some things never change.

Things that have changed:

• The boyfriend and I are officially living together (as of last week!)
• I've moved back to the Charlotte area (and looking for employment opportunities).
• I've met and gotten to know some wonderful people over the last few years.

Things that haven't changed:

• Sebastian is still the love of my life.
• The boyfriend is a close second. It'll be 7 years for us this year.
• TV is still an obsession (although, since it's summer, I've cut back my TV-watching a lot).
• I still have the most amazing family and friends!
• Still loving life!

Well, it's the Friday before 4th of July weekend. Maybe I'll surprise myself and post again soon!