25 things about me

I was just reading my friend Jen’s blog post about herself – which was inspired by another friend (Samantha)’s blog. SO I’m totally borrowing this and talking about me, me, me (as if I don’t on my blog all the time). So 25 random facts about me:

1. I enjoy folding grocery bags. I used to be really bad about not throwing away grocery bags. I’d just stick them in bigger bags. I used them for my bathroom and bedroom trashcans. And then I got a dog. I knew it was bad when I moved from Greensboro to Kannapolis because I had several large bags of bags. That’s when I started folding bags. I needed them to be easy to grab and tie around Sebastian’s retractable leash. Amazingly, we used all of the bags (thanks to my use of reusable, eco-friendly bags) and had to purposely get more while shopping. And I fold those bags now, too.

2. This is a fact – I think that was a ridiculously long explanation for why I fold grocery bags.

3. I really can’t cook. I pretend like I can, but I’m not inventive in the kitchen. I just follow directions well.

4. I do love to bake. I guess everyone already knows that.

5. I am so happy in my life. Right now. Just as it is.

6. I love surprising Tim with little things, like a pecan pie at the end of the day.

7. I watch too much TV.

8. I’ve never been to the West Coast. In fact, the farthest I’ve traveled West is to Kansas City.

9. I love beer. And wine. If I didn’t drink so much, I would lose weight a lot easier.

10. Children’s movies are my drug. After I had my gallbladder removed this summer, I went to stay with my parents for a week. I brought nothing but children’s movies for me to watch. And it was amazing.

11. I really watch the worst TV shows – ever.

12. I love men with curly hair. Seriously, Chris Martin might be my ultimate dream man – with his hair grown out. I wish my kids could have curly hair but that’s highly unlikely as I have straight black hair and the boy has pretty straight dirty blond hair.

13. I enjoy lots of kisses – from Tim and from Sebastian!

14. The worst kind of kiss is right after Tim smokes.

15. I dislike when Sebastian picks Tim over me.

16. I think I like the idea of being a mom, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to deliver as a good parent.

17. I am a pretty awesome pet owner. Sebastian is super spoiled – and for good reason!

18. I think I ask too many questions. Sometimes.

19. I like the idea of trivia, but I am the absolute worst person to have with you at a trivia competition.

20. I have watched The Simpsons almost every night before bed for seven years, and I still can’t name all the characters in the show, or remember story lines before the episode actually starts.

21. I haven’t been to the theaters since this summer. And I used to go see 1-2 movies every month, sometimes even in one week

22. I find it hard to spent more than $20 on any piece of clothing. Seriously, I am a bargain shopper.

23. I am a bargain shopper. I read lots of circulars every week.

24. I dislike when I have a broken nail. I really, really dislike it.

25. I found it really hard to write 25 things about me. It has actually been over a week since I started this list.

A super lazy weekend

The boy and I had a very good, very lazy weekend – and I was reminded again why I like to stay busy. This was probably one of the laziest weekends I’ve had in a long time and I could not be more disgusted with myself. At least, if I have a lot going on, I am active and more motivated.

I got up at 8 a.m. on Saturday but didn’t actually start the day until 1. I sat around, ate breakfast and caught up on TV during that time. And then Sunday, I didn’t get out of bed until 11 a.m., the latest I’ve slept in since I started working.

I decided to try to overcompensate for my laziness. I started planning for Christmas gifts and our Holiday décor. I was even ambitious enough to try a new recipe that I thought would be very difficult.

I made this delicious ratatouille recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Look how beautiful it is:
And I bought our first piece of Christmas decoration, mistletoe:And I expect many kisses this holiday season!

A beautiful wedding

I love a good wedding ceremony. I truly believe that you should be allowed to marry whoever you want, regardless of their sex. I mean, if someone like Kim Kardashian can abuse the value of marriage, why can’t two people who are in love also make the vow of marriage?

Anyway, while Conan O'Brian was filming his talk show in New York last week, he married two men since New York passed their same-sex marriage law this summer. Seriously, I love how giddy and in-love these two are. It even brought tears to my eyes. Watch and enjoy!

A farmer's market shopping trip

I’m excited to announce I’ve done another thing on my list of things to do before the end of the year! I finally went to the Kannapolis farmer's market!
Since this summer, I’ve been walking Sebastian through downtown Kannapolis. One day while we were passing the Antique Mall at Cannon Village (located at 104 S. Main St)., Sebastian freaked out and started barking at a statue of a lion on display outside the shop. The employee came out and we had a good laugh, and since then, we’ve said hello when we passed. We finally had a conversation this week, during which we talked about good food, good wines and all the changes in the city. He also mentioned that there was now a farmer’s market that met on Thursdays in downtown Kannapolis. Um, YAY for my list!

I found out that the hours were from 3-6 p.m., so I hurried home this Thursday so we could check it out. Here’s a picture of my purchases. I bought all the fresh ingredients I needed to make ratatouille and even some homemade blackberry jam for breakfast. I do plan on going back because there was a lady who was selling a rosemary plant, which will be a great addition to my herb garden.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the farmer’s market and I feel like it’s something I’ll be doing again soon. My sister says I should go to the one in Charlotte because the flowers there are amazing. I’ll definitely have to put that on the to-do list for an upcoming weekend!

90s themed Halloween party

A big discussion for the boy’s birthday party was what the theme would be. We debated between a 90s themed party or a Harry Potter party. Obviously, we went with a Harry Potter party. So for Halloween, we decided on to have a 90s themed party. We had a great turn out and some really great costumes! I couldn’t decide if we should do regular food, Halloween food or food from the 90s… So I decided to mix it up. We had things like mummy hotdogs, shrimp cocktails and Fruit by the Foot. I know, random! But I think it was still a good array of food.

I REALLY wish I had taken more photos because I really tried to make this party cute and fun, but here’s one of my favorites.

Garden update

One of my first big projects when we moved into our house was to get my container garden started. And I’m so excited about how successful my garden has been. Over the last few months, I’ve been doing several things to keep my garden fertilized and growing. This includes mixing garden soil with soil from my parent’s house, putting grass clippings and dead flowers into the garden for fertilization, and watering at least twice a week if it hasn’t rained.

I learned while growing my basil plant in a single pot, that I should not water it all the time. At one point, I was watering the plant every day. It wasn’t growing as well as I had hoped. Then I had my gallbladder surgery and I asked the boy to water it while I was away. He forgot/didn’t, and the plant looked 10x healthier. That’s when I resolved to water it a LOT less often! LOL

Less than three months later, my basil looks fantastic! In fact, I have too much of it. I spent nearly 30 minutes yesterday pruning and planning how I was going to use it all.
And I have several other herbs growing in my garden. My parents brought me lemon grass, green onions and mint leaves from their own garden about two months ago – and they look so good now. I’ve even used them.
AND now, it’s finally a good time to grow cilantro. Yesterday, I put some coriander in the ground.

I also went to my parent’s house yesterday and plucked several stems of a drying Thai basil plant. After a basil plant matures and flowers, the stems dry up and what’s left over on the stems are known as carpels. These dry and brown as the seeds mature. Then, you can de-seed the plant by crumbling the carpels between your fingers.
That’s what I plan to do with these stems from my mom’s garden. Then, I’ll plant them into my garden so I’ll have both Thai and sweet basil next year!

The only sad thing now is that I have no room for anymore herbs. The garden that I originally thought was going to be too big, is now just right. So excited!

Chocolate Butter Cream Icing

I am so excited to share that I made a new icing - and I can mark this one off my things-to-do before the end of the year list! I made chocolate butter cream icing, using a recipe from Baked Bree (a new favorite website for fun recipes). The texture was perfect for spreading and it actually tasted pretty good. And it’s so easy that I feel comfortable enough to make adjustments to the recipe so it lighter, less sweet and more. So fun!
And I also came to the realization that I can make amazing icing using my KitchenAid mixer. Last time I used it to make icing, it came out grainy and it did not spread well. The worst part is that I was making my standard cream cheese icing, which is super easy to make. A few ago, I bought the KitchenAid flex edge beater and so far, it has proved to be completely worth the $40 I spent on it (this was not a smart purchase; I realized I could buy this at Target for $30 afterwards – arg). At least I know I’ll be using it a lot!

Here’s the recipe for chocolate butter cream.

2 sticks of room temperature butter
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

Cream together the butter and sugar. Gradually add the cocoa powder. Add just enough cream to get the consistency for spreading (I used 2 tbs). Add the vanilla.
Try it, and let me know what you think!

New restaurants

We have been quite busy the last few weeks! Between our work and play, I’ve not had time for blogging. But I will try to make more time to say hello now and then!

Of course being so social has its benefits. Tim and I were able to knock out another one of my to-dos before the end of the year. We went to TWO new restaurants in the last few weeks.

Things I'll Never Say

I used to LOVE this song. And it's exactly how I feel today.



Only difference is, I'd say these things to him today... :P

Cuz he's worth it.

Fall TV Update

I must be crazy to think I can get all that TV in. Between work, the dog, dinner and other chores, I can reasonably get 2 hours of TV in during the evenings. So for that reason, I am removing a lot of shows off my list.

Here they are, in case you were interested. LOL

Our Saturday morning project

The boy is all about his entertainment center. And I guess he never planned to get a cable box. Since we’ve moved in together, we have been talking about getting a new entertainment center because as you see in the picture below, ours is too small.

We had looked at Walmart, Target, K-Mart and Sam’s Club, but found nothing we liked. We decided we needed to expand our search. I guess the problem was our criteria:

South 21

I’m already marking things off my to-do before the end of the year list. This week, the boy and I went tried a new restaurant – which will count for September. We went to South 21, a (very) local restaurant located at 6932 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC. I knew that this to-do would be kind of easy to do.

Potential obstacles for not completing this to-do were:
-Wanting to go to favorite restaurants I haven’t been to in a while,
-Risk of trying something I’ve never tried,
-Not be able to find time,
-The boy having an issue with the restaurant – the food, price, location, etc.

We both were working until 5 p.m. in the University area Tuesday, so we decided to try out a (very) local restaurant, South 21.

A formal dining room or a good reading room?

Just in the last few weeks, I’ve started to realize that I dislike how big our dining room table is. We had six people at our dining room table for dinner a few weeks ago, and I thought it felt crowded in the space. We currently have it cornered in our fairly large kitchen. There is space in our house for a formal dining room, but we currently have it set up as a reading room/den. We also have an extra bedroom that we are using as a junk room/office/Sebastian’s bedroom.

So, I brought up the question last night to the boy about moving things around. My idea was to move our reading room into the extra room and use our formal dining room space as, well, a formal dining room.

Gavin vs. Matt vs. Mat

I’m always looking for new music to listen to. Surprisingly, there have been a few CDs I want to buy. It seems so retro to me, especially now that most people just get MP3s, including me. But I still like the feel of having the CD and putting it into my car. I’ve been debating which of these CDs to buy:

For the rest of the year

I know I didn’t get to finish my list of things I want to do this summer, so I’m going to expand the list and say they are things I want to do before the end of the YEAR!

Actually, I’m going to change and add things as well. I really do like trying new things, so I’m going to try much harder. Not that I didn’t try harder before. I was actually really busy this summer! It was ambitious for me to try to do them all in just two months.

Also, the boy surprised me by getting me a KitchenAid mixer. In a previous post, I said my ideal situation for making fresh pasta would be to have this mixer and its attachments. Now all I need are those attachments that cost anywhere between $150 – 200. So that will come another day.

Side note: Even though I have this awesome mixer, I’m kind of tired of baking. Isn’t that horrible? It’s just that when I bake something, it takes the boy and me at least two weeks to finish it.

So, here is the new list!

Tuesday, Tuesday

Here’s what I’m watching Tuesdays!

Random thoughts…

Great Weekend
OK, I take it back. I was not really ready to start Monday because I was still tired from this weekend! We were planning to go to the Cabarrus County Fair on Friday, but instead Tim surprised me with dinner plans.

I spent nearly all of Saturday baking and watching increments of Star Wars: A New Hope. The boy just got the entire series on Blu-ray and because I’ve never seen the ones that count – the original three – our goal was to watch them this weekend. We only got through one, unfortunately pausing them every 20 to 30 minutes so I could run to the kitchen. Maybe we can try again next weekend.

Then that evening, we headed uptown Charlotte to celebrate one of our girl friends’ birthday and her last few days of singledom. I actually stayed out until 2 a.m., which I haven’t done in a while. I felt old. I need to figure a way to get more energy throughout the day. I guess it didn’t help I got up at 7 a.m. that day.

And then Sunday, we tagged along on a trip to the mountains with some friends. We hiked a mountain for like THREE hours! The entire trail was about 4.3 miles. And we had to climb the stairs from hell to get back to the car. Seriously, there were like 100 stairs to climb – and up a mountain! The photos below do not quite show how crazy those stairs were.





Needless to say, I was EXHAUSTED after that.

Overall, a great weekend… But I was not quite ready to get out of bed this morning.

Better Put a Ring On It
I gotta be honest – I am waiting for the day the boy proposes. I’ve been finding myself wearing a ring – any ring - these days. Maybe my body is instinctively preparing itself for the day it happens!

People say that it’s my fault he hasn’t done it. And I agree. But I don’t want him to tell me he’s going to do it. He can surprise me by just not telling me. It’s that simple. Don’t tell me you’re going to do it. Be spontaneous and nervous – and then do it!

Good Changes
Work has automatic paper towel dispensers in our bathrooms. I’m that person that would normally swipe my hands at least two times to get enough paper to dry my hands. But I am making a commitment to try to use JUST ONE for here on out. They must be set to dispense just that one for a reason, right? Remember, I’m trying to make positive changes! I’m going to add this one to the list!

So far, one has been plenty. Change done!

Questions
Even though I say I get tired of the boy who turns everything into a joke, I love that he’s always thinking. He wants to write a book titled, “The Answers to Questions that People Never Ask.” Well, he would ask – but he’d be the only one.

Love him.

Nobody looks forward to Monday

Except me! I have a lot of great shows that start on Mondays! Check out my TV schedule.

Sunday

Sundays are REALLY busy TV days.

What a weekend

More than likely, my weekends will be spent catching up on TV. Which is never fun. But the only other option to stop watching to much! LOL

Here are the shows I’ll be tuning into on Saturdays.

A conscious decision

They say some changes are for the best. And I think that’s what I’m aiming for these days.

I’ve never been a very environmentally conscious person, but now that Tim and I are living together, I’ve made some considerations on how we should live. Start and make them habits now, right? Not all of these are environment related, but they are all things that are going to help us in the long run (or at least I hope).

It is already Friday?

The boy says this is the day that networks play shows that are going to die… and die soon. Well, I have two favorites that have moved to the 8 p.m. time slot on Friday. I know I’ll be tuned in!

My Thursday TV Line Up

Shows for Thursdays this fall.

8 p.m.
FOX, The X Factor

CW, The Vampire Diaries, starts today
I don’t know where this show is going… but I still really enjoy it. Sometimes, the storylines are a stretch, but what do you expect when you’re dealing with vampires, werewolves and other supernaturals?

8:30 p.m.
NBC, Parks and Recreation, starts Sept. 22
Between the Vampire Diaries and the X Factor, I have got to find a way to fit this show in. It’s one of my all-time favorite shows on NBC.

9 p.m.
NBC, The Office, starts Sept. 22
Dunder Miflin will not be the same without Michael Scott. How will it proceed? The show has since spun out a slew of breakout stars since its premiere nearly six years ago. Can Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Ed Helms and team carry the show?

9:30 p.m.
NBC, *Whitney, starts Sept. 22
I don’t know anything about this show except it’s about Whitney Cummings. And I don’t even really know who she is. Don’t know if I’ll stick with this one.

9 p.m.
Lifetime, Project Runway, ongoing
Thank goodness for cable networks that re-run shows a million times. I can skip the 9 p.m. showing to fit in X Factor and the Office, and still enjoy the creative eye candy of this show at a later day.

11 p.m.
TBS, Conan
Comedy Central, The Daily Show

11:30 p.m.
Comedy Central, The Colbert Report

*new show

Fall TV started this week!

This week marked the return of my fall TV shows. Over the last few weeks, the boy has probably been wondering what I mean when I talk about my “fall shows.” Since I haven’t posted in a while, I thought this might be a great topic to talk about. Over the next few days, I’ll be posting some of the shows I’m looking forward to as the TV networks roll out their best and brightest primetime shows.

It would have been more ideal for me to have posted this yesterday because my first show started then, but I will go with it and start with today. And keep in mind, these shows are in addition to me and the boy having SEPARATE Netflix accounts. By the time I’m done, you’ll wonder how I have time for anything else!

Here are my Wednesday shows.

September

When did it become September? And how is it that we are nearly halfway through the month already?!

Time truly flies!

A few thoughts as the end of summer nears

The boy and I.

Have had a rough summer.

• I didn't have a job going into it.
• I had to move – twice!
• My gallbladder was removed while I didn’t have health insurance. $$$$$ Recovery period = 30 days (July through early August)
• My aunt, who helped raise me, passed away.
• The boy had surgery to fix two hernias. Recovery period = 30 days (August through mid-September)
• I had to wake up to the boy throwing up because he got really sick one weekend. This is the first time he had thrown up in 10 years!
• We worried about paying the bills.
• We’ve had to learn to deal with each other’s pet peeves and bad habits.
• We’ve fought – and fought.
• We have continued to deal with the boy’s family’s drama, but on a much more limited scale. Still never fun.
• We’ve been super busy seeing lots of friends and family, traveling distances near and far. Sometimes the weekend trips to far distances were back to back weekends, sometimes back to back days.

But at the end of the day, I think the boy and I have been positive and remember all of the great things that have also happened for us. We are incredibly blessed and we truly learned that this summer. Some great things that have happened or helped us get through the months…

• We took Sebastian to the beach for the first (and last) time! He just hated it, but it was still fun to take a “family” trip.
• He asked my parents for my hand in marriage.
• We found a fantastic house to rent.
• We moved in together.
• I've had time for me.
• We got even closer – and continue to learn so much about each other every day.
• We’ve learned to say sorry – and to put arguments to rest just as quickly as they happen.
• We’ve both lost weight and eat much healthier!
• My family has been fantastic and so accepting of our relationship.
• We have amazingly supportive friends – some with whom we’ve grown even closer to.
• We have friends and family that love and care about us.
• We’re still so in love - and we say it more than ever.
• We laugh all the time.
• We are happy.

So, when I think about the hard times we’ve had, I am so thankful for all the great things that have happened and how they have helped us grow – not only as partners in this relationship, but also as friends, lovers and even as individuals.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of our lives hold.

Love you, Tim (and sometimes more than Sebastian).

Busy August

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy for me. We celebrated the boy’s birthday, he went back to work and he also had surgery. And I’ve been on the receiving end of all of that.

I prepped for his Harry Potter-themed birthday party. I attempted to create a version of the Book of Monsters from Harry Potter.

I've also handled household chores while he was at work and am currently nursing him.

On top of this, I baked more than 40 cupcakes for a bachelorette party this weekend.

I am also beginning to prepare the house for out of town guests coming for my sister’s wedding.

Whew!

My to-do lists only grows longer this week, so I finally took the time to write out some of things I HAVE to do this week.

• Decide on a groom’s cake that I’m going to bake for my brother-in-law
• Pick up and hope my bridesmaid dress fits
• Buy home essentials that I’ve been NEEDING to buy – like paper towels
• Get a great cake carrier – I had a great one from Martha Stewart but after this weekend, I’ve realized I need one that carries more than 24 cupcakes.
• Get cost estimates for our home office, especially a file cabinet
• Check out options for a liquor cabinet
• Find an inexpensive bookshelf for my serveware. This is my solution to having too many pieces!

Here's to a good week!

Summer List Update

Here is an update on my summer list.

Make fresh pasta.

• I need to go buy a pasta machine. A cheap one - and probably not a great one - costs about $30. It's worth a try, right? This one might be put on hold until further notice. The ideal situation would be for me to get a KitchenAid stand mixer and get attachments to make pasta. But that could be years down the road!

Make a REALLY pretty cupcake.

• I did get really close to this with the cupcakes I made for my sister's bachelorette party. I made red velvet cupcakes with pink cream cheese icing, topped with white whipped icing piping. I don't have pictures though! If I get some, I'll post them!

Try a recipe with an ingredient I’ve never used.

• I've used parsley this summer for the first time. I don't think I'm a fan. I also cooked with shallots - and they were incredible. I still want to try something a little more difficult though. Maybe a root here or there. I don't know. We'll see!

Use the steamer my mother bought me.

• Nope. I think I'm going to cook fish with this, but I haven't decided when yet.

Go out dancing in a fabulous outfit.

• I've gone out dancing twice already! But not in a fabulous outfit. I think I will just go ahead and say I can mark this one off though. Don't think fabulous and dancing will ever work out. I don't think I can stand wearing 4 to 6 inch heels that long!

Use the backyard for something – anything!

• I finally treated the backyard for mosquitos so we need to do something ASAP. Ugh. Maybe I'll go out there and read tomorrow or this weekend...

Find a new recipe to make a chocolate cake from scratch. The last one I made was just OK.

• Nope, not yet.

The end of summer is near

Here are some random thoughts of the night...

Best dad ever

Seriously, my dad is pretty much the most amazing person ever. Without me even asking, he brought dirt for my garden this week. I have a container garden that is about 2-3 inches into the ground, and then 9-10 inches above it. I did this because the area is sloped. Overall, I think it looks good and would be usable – if we could fill it with good garden dirt (if you dig too far down, you hit clay dirt – which is very common in this area).

The boy and I had been trying to decide what our best option would be for dirt and trying to figure out how much that would cost. Well, my dad just saved us a ton of money – and my garden is ready for plants! We put in my two basil plants and my dad is bringing me green onion (and hopefully mint!) this weekend. I am excited to go buy other plants, including Thai basil, for my garden.

And as a side note, my dad told me I was pretty much crazy for trying to grow cilantro right now. He said it was too hot.

My disgusting feet after we finished gardening. Can you tell where my shoes/socks stopped and my legs started? LOL

Other random thoughts for the day...

Garden inspiration

One thing I enjoyed doing while I was recovering at my parent’s house was taking long walks. They live way out in the country and on 4 acres. I absolutely love and admire my parent’s hard work around the house, especially their gardens. I remember how much I used to love working with them in the garden, which is why I want to have my own. Here are a few pictures I took while I was taking my afternoon walks.

Another week, another list

1. When did it become August?

2. Look at this sweet face. Love him.
3. When can I have alcohol again? I want a beer SO bad.

4. I should not cheat on my diet. I felt so sick on Sunday and yesterday. In fact, I did not eat lunch and just ate a light soup for dinner yesterday, and I feel so much better today. I guess I just needed to get everything out of my system. Back on the chicken and rice diet today. I did not each lunch, but I’m not even hungry. Arg. I need a regular schedule again.

5. But on a positive note, I’m able to sleep now. For a while there, I was having a hard time sleeping because of the neighbors’ dogs right outside my window. As of yesterday, I have officially moved into Sebastian’s room – and he is now in my old room. It really makes a huge difference and I’ve actually slept in the last two days!

6. I need to clear out my DVR but I am so tired of sitting in front of the TV all day long. I’m now watching Nick & Vanessa’s Dream wedding on TLC. Which reminds me, I really liked Nick Lachey’s album, What’s Left of Me.

7. I am tired of making food that the boy’s not going to eat. Yesterday, I threw away a cobbler, about 10 cupcakes, a salad and some fruits.

8. My garden is a little bit closer to being done! I finished outlining and digging out my garden yesterday. Now, I just need to get dirt and to start planting!

9. I feel like I’m not going to get through my summer list. Boo. I hate that I had my surgery because I feel like it’s put a dent in a lot of things I wanted to do this summer.

10. I like that I get my medical bills separately. It doesn’t seem like so much when it’s only $100 here and $90 here and $400 here.

11. Is it bad that I want to see the Glee In Concert movie? LOL

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!