Ouch

I had a “friend” chew me out the other day and it has taken me a few days to recover from the blow. I don’t feel that I did anything wrong, but I know that in every situation there is something to learn, something that I can take from it to help me be a better individual or a better friend. I think what I learned from this is to listen to my gut and act on how I am feeling sooner rather than later. This friendship should have ended long ago, the only thing we had in common was the age of our children and I knew that from the start but I felt guilty for not giving her a chance. And I felt guilty because she is a single Mom and was struggling. Now I feel guilty for not stopping it sooner to avoid hurt feelings. Another lesson, guilt is not a reason to stay in a relationship. So that is that…now I am leaning on my friends to remind me that I am not all those awful things she said to me because no matter how much confidence you have in yourself taking blow after blow from a person that speaks not in logic but in anger, can do a little damage.
On a more positive note my Week of No TV has been great. I worked on recovering our chairs last night and am almost finished with my book. I do miss The Daily Show and the Cobert Report a little, but it is worth it for the free time. Also, last night I knocked #23 off of the list. I told the story on the bean blog.

Meme

I was tagged for a meme and I almost didn't do it because my life is not that interesting and I think this particular meme calls attention to that. But, they are just so fun...I can't resist them. I still fill out the email one that has been circulating the Internet since 1998. So here goes. Pretend that it is exciting, okay?
*
What were you doing 10 years ago? Hum. 10 years ago I was living up on campus in this tiny apartment with my friend Sarah. I had just finished what I call "The drunk period" (1996-1997...man those were good times), had an annoying ex boyfriend making trouble for me, was getting ready to start back at KU for the second time and had just started dating this guy, named Wade. He was cute.
*
What are 5 things on your to-do list for today?
-Pick up Rolling Prairie
-Clean my bathroom
-Paint the dining room table
-Play with Henry
-Mail Annie's package
*
Snacks you enjoy: I am a terrible snacker, mostly because I don't have an off switch. A snack is a little something one may enjoy on occasion....not me...I will eat the whole bag, box, bowl, whatever. My favorite "snacks" are Red Hot Blue chips and a avocado chopped into little pieces. I also enjoy yogurt covered raisins from the Merc bulk section, but I have to buy a small bag or I will eat them all.
*
Things you would do if you were a billionaire: I would move...immediately. I would sell my house and move. I'd pay off people's debts, donate, yata yata yata... Then I would go to pastry chef school and I would open my own bakery. I asked the mister this last night and he said he would be on-board with a lifetime of surfing, playing music and eating baked goods. Oh, and I would have and adopt lots of babies and travel around the world.
*
Places you have lived:Lawrence, Kansas --this is the part that makes me look extra boring.
*
Jobs you have had: Pharmacist assistant, stockroom worker, nursery worker, accounting assistant, biller, maid.

You Rebel

Did you know that on June 29, 1964 the first television remote was manufactured? And they have been destroying the lives of able-bodied people ever sense. I am baffled by the amount of time one can lose in front of the TV and the number of people that watch TV for hours on end and feel fine about it. I guess that is good, I mean at least they have a way to relax. I am barely able to sit through a movie without doing something else. It drives my hubby crazy. I have to knit or do sudoku or make a grocery list or have my lap-top out while the TV is on. Without something to do with my hands I either get antsy or fall asleep. And then there is the guilt. I spend an hour watching TV and feel guilty for days for wasting that hour. Personally, I could do without cable entirely if it wasn't cheaper to get the package bundled with our Internet service.
Neither the mister nor myself find much good in TV and we try to keep it off. We especially restrict it for Henry...did you know that the average kid watches 4.7 hours of TV a day and 20 hours a week playing video games. This is shocking to me. We will never buy a video game system for our child, poor deprived kid. We will take him to arcades though, if they still have those.
Anyway, in "honor" of the 44 anniversary of the device that allows us all to sit in the same place for hours at a time without thinking or speaking to our family members I am declaring this The Week of No TV. And to help me through those moments where the desire for laziness seems overwhelming I have pulled out all the books that I have purchased over the past few months and not yet read and set them on the table where the remotes usually sit. Maybe next week I will be able to post a book review. First up David Sedaris.

Sneak Peak

I only got 5 of the 10 yards of Ivory Sketchbook that I ordered for the dining room chairs. Apparently it is a popular fabric. So much for originality....oh well. I am using those 5 yards to recover the seat cushions. I will cover the seat backs when I receive the other 5 yards. I had been throwing around the idea of painting the table another color but I decided to stick with the white and paint the walls a bright blue color. Kinda like this-
You can't tell from my picture but the fabric for my chairs has a blue in it. See-
We are going to paint the cabinets, moldings and bookshelves, white. Tile the kitchen back splash with white subway tiles and put in dark grey concrete counter tops. We bought this oven with part of our stimulus check.

I think by this winter we will have our kitchen finished and we can move on to the study. It's a good thing we only have 6 rooms in our tiny house :)

Renewal

It has only been a week but I am missing my life at the beach house. The time I spent on Folly Beach was really a celebration of summertime: fresh food, feeling the sunshine on your bare shoulders, family, windblown hair, the smell of sunscreen, bare feet, ice cream, sunshine until 9 pm, afternoon thunderstorms, driving with the windows down, freckles on my sister’s nose, sleeping with the windows open, talking into fans, sand castles, sweat, staying up late, saltwater kisses from a little boy, bright pink toenail polish, birthday cake, big sun hats, wildflowers, sun tea, lazy days, road trips. I am trying to find a way to get back there....permanently.

On the drive back to Kansas the mister and I pulled out the atlas to search for a place on the East coast that would fit our needs. Our list:

1. Somewhere that has weather that allows us to spend some time outside every day.
2. Somewhere that has options for recreation that are things we want to do and are within 15 minutes from our house.
3. Somewhere close to the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean is like truth serum for me. If I feel sad, it makes me cry. If I feel happy, the joy bubbles up in my stomach and makes me want to sing. It is like being drunk or a really good song, it just exaggerates my feelings. I love it.
4. Somewhere that is relatively close to my family. I miss my sisters and can't imagine life too far away from my parents.
5. Somewhere with dynamic, diverse, open minded, progressive, creative people.
6. Somewhere with great restaurants.
7. Somewhere that needs a cupcake shop :)

8. Somewhere with a university

9. Somewhere with coffee shops that aren't Starbucks and a downtown area that is not a mall. No mall at all would be fine with us.

10. Somewhere with good surfing (more for the mister than me on that one, but I do think he is dead sexy on a surf board so I am keeping it on the list)

11. Somewhere that isn't too touristy

12. Somewhere with good schools, preferably Montessori.

13. Somewhere that we could afford a little house. I don't need a crazy 3 million dollar beach house (although I wouldn't turn it down) but a little 3 bedroom bungalow is right up our alley.

So far Wilmington NC fits the bill. We are planning a vacation...eh, I mean a trip to do research on that area...in the fall.

Hey. Guess what. On our vacation I was able to cross #2, #5, a little bit of #27 and #28 with a slight adjustment off of the list. So far I am doing okay on #6 but failing miserably on #’s 4, 7, 8, 14 and 18. Oh and #30 is much harder than you think. Less than 2 months to finish the other 25 or so left on the list. I am thinking a few of them might make it on to my 31 In my 31st Year list. I guess it is good that I get an extra "thing" each year. And just so you know, #31 on the list is "Get back to the beach".

A break

I am taking a little break. I've got some stuff to work out. It might be a couple of days or a couple of weeks, I don't know.

Walnut-Basil Pesto Day 2

Pesto on sandwiches is really really great. For this I just cut up some of our favorite veggies-zucchini, yellow squash, artichokes, red bell peppers, baby portabella mushrooms, asparagus, spinach and onions-mixed them in a bowl with a little olive oil and sea salt and then cooked them in a hot cast iron skillet until they were nice and brown. Then I took a chiabatta loaf, cut it into sandwich size slices, spread some pesto on the top, filled the bottom with the veggies, put it on a cookie sheet and baked it at 300 for about 10 minutes. Just to warm it all up. After I got it out of the oven I spread some sundried tomato mayo on the bottom slice on the bread and served it up with roasted garlic couscous (from a box). To make the sundried tomato mayo just mix a cup of mayo (I like vegonase) with a few chopped up sundried tomatos and 2 small cloves of finely minced garlic and some salt and pepper. It is great on every kind of sandwich we have tried. Including Faken' Bacon BLT's...but that is a recipe for another day. I hope you try this and enjoy. It is a great way to get all your little green dots, Miss Candy :)

For Lisa

Happy Spring!

Pesto

I mentioned a few days ago that eating less meat is a great way to do something positive for the environment. Well, a friend of mine emailed me and mentioned that she doesn't know many vegetarian meals and asked for some of my favorites. Of course, I am happy to share them, hopefully you will try them and let me know what you think.

Walnut-Basil Pesto is a favorite in our house. This recipe is based off of one from "The Omega Diet". It is healthy due to all of the "good" fats from the olive oil and walnuts. But more than that it tastes great and is super easy. You don't need much pesto to flavor your pasta so this recipe will make enough for at least two meals. You can freeze whatever you have left and then just leave it on the counter for a few minutes to defrost the next time you want to use it.

Walnut-Basil Pesto

2 cups packed basil leaves

1/3 cup of olive oil

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

2 small cloves of garlic, minced or crushed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Place basil, walnuts, garlic and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times. Once all the ingredients are chopped turn the food processor on and stream in the olive oil. Blend until finely chopped and well combined.

2. Just before serving add about 2 tbsp of hot pasta water from the cooked pasta to the pesto. (Only add the pasta water to the pesto that you plan to eat right away. Separate any pesto that you want to save for later).

3. Mix it with pasta and enjoy. My favorite pasta to eat this with is tortellini but it is also great on whole wheat pastas, the strong flavor of the pesto covers up much of the wheat flavor in the whole wheat pasta (if that bothers you).

I usually serve my pasta with garlic bread and salad and then plan to have roasted veggie sandwiches later that same week because this pesto is great on a sandwich. I will post pictures of the sandwiches later. I hope you like this pesto recipe.

Coming up

Our house is right by Folly Pier, a favorite surfing spot on Folly Beach. Surfing! YAY!

Heavy

Life feels heavy today. Cyclones and earthquakes and wildfires and volcanoes and gay bashing and loss. What I might say on this blog seems irrelevant and minuscule. I suppose this is why people pray, to have a place to put all the heartache and sadness so that they can move on to worrying about things like gas prices and parking spots. In a way I am secretly glad that gas is so expensive. Yes, listening to people fret about it and complain is so tiresome and frustrating...but it is clear to me that it is the ONLY way that some people will even think about their energy consumption. People that have not put one thought or effort into thinking about their contribution to our global crisis that is causing, I believe, catastrophic events like what has happened in China and Burma these past weeks, are now thinking about taking the bus or carpooling or buying a hybrid car. It makes me sad to know that money is what it takes to make people care about our planet and the gas prices have hit my family just as hard as everyone elses, but I will deal with it if it means that people will act and live in a way that is better for the planet. I want there to be something here for my grandchildren.
*
On that note did you know that reducing your red meat/dairy consumption by 20% will reduce your carbon footprint as much as driving a hybrid car. 20% That is what, 2 less burgers a week and maybe a salad one night instead of a supreme pizza.

Anticipation

Peonies are so fantastic. Every morning I look at them and feel certain that they are going to bloom today. I think to myself- that bloom could not possibly get any bigger-and then it does. They are so full and their color peeking through the top is so bright, it just looks delicious. Seriously...I have an overwhelming urge to eat them.
My Mom never planted peonies in her garden growing up, I'm not sure why. So this is my first spring with a peony and I have already decided that next spring the walkway to our back door will be lined on both sides with peonies. Right now we have 3 bushes, I think we need 2 more on the East side and 5 on the West side of the walk way. This time next year it is going to be awesome.

A Chocolate Send Off

I made chocolate cupcakes tonight for my coworker Shawn. Her last day is tomorrow and she loves chocolate. There is a whole lotta chocolate going on here. At first I was thinking I should have made a double batch so that everyone could have 2, but after trying my "test" cupcake I can't imagine that someone could eat more than one. They are fantastically rich.

This is a new recipe. I planned on topping the cupcakes with a chocolate ganache icing. Ganache is the really smooth chocolate in the center of a truffle and it makes a fantastic icing. But I couldn't get it to set up. So I put it in the fridge and threw together a chocolate buttercream. After icing all the cupcakes and wrapping them to store for the night I opened the fridge and found a bowl of perfectly set ganache . So, it looks like I am going to be making some more chocolate cupcakes tomorrow night. Anyone have a birthday this weekend?

Weekend

I did a lot of chores this weekend. Mowing and laundry and...blah blah blah. But I found some time to play with rick-rack. I made a little this and a little that and have been working on a top secret something....which I can show you pictures of after May 19th :) Until then here is a little sneak peak.

Geeking out

Everybody has something that they geek out about. My husband geeks out about Star Track. I geek out about NPR. Today on What Do You Know? they mentioned Lawrence KS. I feel famous.

Last night I had a dream that my older sister was renewing her vows with her husband and I was the matron of honor and she made us wear these awful navy blue silk suits. In my dream I was so tired that I fell asleep on the stage and slept through the entire ceremony and reception. Once I finally woke up (in my dream) I was sitting on the stage by myself and ran to the reception only to find out that they had eaten all of the coconut cake that was shaped like an electric guitar.

Wade dreamt that he had to put a fitted sheet on a huge mattress and he was complaining because he can’t ever get a fitted sheet to fit a normal sized mattress.

An invitation for dinner

When you are on a whole foods diet springtime is the best time of the year. Everything that I want to eat is fresh, available at the farmers market or Rolling Prairie and I get to cook it with my kitchen window open (not really related to whole foods but yay for spring). This is without a doubt our families favorite dinner. I took pictures of it last night because I am trying to get better at macro photography (but there is only so much you can do with a crappy digital camera). And because I couldn't resist, everything looked so fresh and tasty. We like to eat it with a sparkling limeade or clementine sorbet for dessert. Will you come over some time?

Happy Earth Day

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. "
Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl, 1952
German Jewish diarist (1929 - 1945)

What are you doing for the planet today?

Tid bits

My favorite sweet snacks
Our postcard wall is filling up thanks to Annie and Alex (oh and Suzy and Katie) thanks guys!
Kitchen window

Friday Five

It's been a while for the Friday Five so I think I will double up this time. Feel free to play along either in a comment or on your blog

Five things I will definitely be doing this weekend
1. Finish clearing out the flower beds and go flower shopping with my Mom
2. Give myself a pedicure (I'm cheap and it is almost flip-flop time)
3. Call my sisters
4. Go to the farmers market
5. Finish making my Mom's Mothers Day gift

Five words to describe my life right now
1. in transition
2. joyous
3. exhausting
4. beautiful
5. tedious

Easy gardening

Yesterday, while Wade and Henry set up the SWING, I spent a few hours clearing out the garden beds on the north side of our house. Since we were not in our house last spring the little flowers popping up here and there have been welcome surprises. Just last week we noticed these dafidills and some tulips in our front yard.
But yesterday I found these in the garden beds. Lots of these all along the north side of our house. I can't wait to see what comes up.

My bedroom

What do you think?


No...it doesn't look like this now, this is just my inspiration.

Things that make me happy Thursday

My friend Emily told me that I should bring back the Things that make me happy Thursdays. I didn't even realize it had been that long since I last did one and honestly with the nasty weather and the fact that I only got 4 hours of sleep last night I am feeling pretty uninspired right now. But I can find something that I love to blog about....I love baby shoes. This week out of the blue I am going crazy with Henry's shoes. His feet are growing at records speeds and even his frog boots are getting to small {ah, moment of silence for the frog boots}. So, we are moving on. Size 8 here we come! Today I ordered new boots:And new kicks:
Everything is cuter in miniature. :)

Cripes

The AIDS walk is this Saturday and so is the Meatout Barbecue in South Park and it is supposed to snow! Snow in April! And why is it always the nasty weather on the weekends? UGH!

Cupcake training

I took a cupcake class tonight at the Merc.
*First let me just say that if you like to cook and you live in Lawrence and you have never taken a class at the Merc you are really missing out. This was the 4th class I have taken and they have all been great. It's really inexpensive-$10-$15 for Merc members nearly that cheap for non-members too. While we were in this class we signed up for a class in May called "Cooking with herbs from your garden". Oh, I can't wait.
*Second, I don't mean to toot my own horn but I left the cupcake class thinking that my cupcakes are better then the ones from the class. Everything she made was buttercream which is normally fine with me and her icing was so light and delicate, but it was all butter, it tasted like flavored butter. And her cakes were too dense and also too buttery. And it isn't just that my tongue has not tasted butter for a while, my friend in the class and my Mom both thought that the butter flavor was too much.
*Third, I learned how to make a fabulous raspberry icing with a so so so good chocolate cake.
*Fourth, I feel pretty confident that if I took the time to make some cupcakes I could probably sell them pretty easily. The chef said cupcakes are all the rage now, which always seems to be my luck...I feel like I have found something original and unique just before everyone else finds it and it gets played out. But I still might give it a try, I mean I live in Kansas, we are always months behind the trend.
*Fifth, I ran into my old best friend Megan at the class. It was slightly awkward as it always is when I see people I used to run with. I am just not good at the overly friendly high-pitched "Ohmygoshhowareyou?Ialwaysthinkaboutyouandmissyousomuch" stuff. While all of that may be true, I tend to lose interest in those conversations quickly. And, inevitably they lead to the "What are you doing now?" question which I totally despise because I am really not doing anything interesting. But it was good to see her and she looks really happy which made me really happy. Plus, I am fat. I hate running into people that knew me pre-baby or as I like to call it during the BSM era (before stretch marks).

Anyway, I promised Henry that we could make cupcakes this weekend since I had to miss out on bedtime tonight. I think we do a vegan version of those chocolate cupcakes with raspberry gauche. I will post a picture.

I have a new crush.

MLK

I am thinking of him today, on the 40th anniversary of his death. Just taking a moment to assess what I am doing in my life to lift people up and contribute to a peaceful planet. He is a reminder of the power of one person.

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."
Martin Luther King Jr.

"We must learn to live together as brothers or parish together as fools."
Martin Luther King Jr.

Cold Feet

I had to take the pictures of the dogs down because we decided not to adopt one. I am sure the people at the ASPCA think I am a total punk for backing out at the last minute but I had a panic attack this afternoon thinking about caring for a puppy and a two year old. I think I was just overcome by cuteness. Now I feel really bad for the guy because both of his brothers will be adopted this weekend by my friend Emily. But I think he is in there with his Mom so he won't be alone and hopefully they will find a good home. Okay, I feel like total crap about this. I cried all afternoon. Seriously, I started crying at the grocery store when I saw a car drive by with a dog hanging it's head out the window. I am still going back and forth about it even though I know our house is not a good place for a 10 week old puppy. Being responsible sucks.

Now I have to let it go.

My birthday is only 5 months away

I have a perfectly good bike, a mountain bike with a seat the size of a Q-tip. When I got my bike 10 years ago for my high school graduation my rear end was, ehhh, about half the size it is now. I loved it, I rode the bike trails on it and all around town. In fact, the semester that I lived up on KU I rode that bike every day. But now, given my butt expansion, it is a little different situation. Basically, when I ride the bike people pass me and wonder "How does she ride that bike without a seat?" And I gotta say, besides the embarrassment of my ass envelope the entire seat, riding on that tiny hard little triangle is not very comfortable. We basically finish every ride with Wade saying "So, does your ass hurt already?" And it does, after only a few seconds on the bike it does... For those reasons, and the shear bad-assness of the bike below that I have decided I need a new bike. A bike like this. With a huge seat with springs underneath it, white washed tires, handlebars that are practically arm rests, oh, and orange. In fact, the only thing this bike is missing is a basket. So there it is. My birthday wish-an orange beach cruiser bike with a basket. I will even take a used bike that meets these very few requirements, I'm not picky. Oh, and I really need one of these too.................you know, for the cupcakes that I like to make after a long bike ride.

On a Saturday

I am a total grump today. Henry woke up very early and I did what I always do when he is up before the sun rises, I brought him into bed with me in the hopes that he was still sleepy enough to drift back to sleep. It never works and in the end little bits of waking and sleeping are almost more annoying then just being up while rest of the neighborhood sleeps. I should have known it was doomed when the he started giving me directions right when we walked in the room. “No Mama, I go on Papa’s pillow and you go over there” (over there being the bottom right corner of the bed). “Henry, I don’t want to go over there, I want to lie on my own pillow in my own spot.” We lay down. “Mama? Let’s play the snoring game. Mama will snore and Henme say WAKE UP” “Baby please,” I say “take it down a notch. It is still night time. Please be quiet and go back to sleep.” A minute passes. “Mama?” Henry whispers “You say wake up?” “No Henry, I don’t want to say wake up. I want to go to sleep, please lay down.” I am begging at this point. He rests just long enough for me to drift off… “Mama?” He yell-whispers about 2 inches from my face. Ugh, it is like falling asleep in calculus class again…up, down, up down. “Mama?” he repeats, “I go look out the window and the sun IS still asleep. It IS still nigh-nigh.” Oh dear he climbed out of bed, walked over to the window and then climbed back into bed and I didn’t even wake up. He could have fallen, tripped, it's dark, there are clothes on the floor. He could have been playing with electrical sockets or eating antibacterial ointment and I would have just been snoring through it...I am a terrible mother! “You cold Mama? You need blankie? You have my blue blankie Mama. Here go.” And a damp blanket goes over my head. It’s damp because Henry likes to chew on his blankets. He takes the blanket off of my face and moves to about one inch from my mouth “You warm now Mama?”……and so it went. For over almost an hour it went. I woke up grumpy and even the shenanigans of the cutest little bean on the planet couldn’t snap me out of it.

After breakfast and some coffee, lots of coffee, I decided to tackle some unfinished business. Yesterday afternoon, before Henry took his nap we were supposed to bake some cookies together. But lunch took what felt like hours to finish and then there was still reading stories and getting into jammies to do. And speaking of lunch he ate 3 servings of applesauce and 2 servings of vegetables plus 2 pita’s with his hummus and probably 25 grapes for lunch. He ate more than I did. And he calls his applesauce “Dappletoss” and his vegetables “Bedgabuls” and I secretly hope that he never learns how to say it correctly. Anyway, we didn’t get around to making cookies. Henry was sad. He doesn’t quite understand how we could buy everything for cookies and yet when we got home there are no cookies. In the car he kept saying “Henme have tookie now Mama?” I just couldn’t get him to make the connection between the ingredients that make up the cookie and the cookies themselves. So we made cookies this morning. It is a challenge to make cookies with a two year old. For starters he is both slightly afraid of the mixer and wanting to stick it into anything that it might fit into at the same time. So he will gladly shove it into the sugar canister but then screams and cries when it makes a loud banging sound as it hits the metal sides of the canister and sugar flies all over the counter. Also, he has yet to get the concept of holding something still and not eating what you are fixing before you have finished fixing it. Being a vegan is good on that end because you don’t have to worry about e-coli in your batter. Anyway we got the job done and 20 minutes later sat down for some cookies and soy milk. Yum….but still grumpy.

I am at work now. Working hard (obviously). Being here on a Saturday doesn’t do much to help the mood. Maybe I will listen to a vegan pod cast or Savage love pod cast or an old Obama speech. Yeah, that’s right I listen to Obama’s speeches for fun. I also have a picture of him above my computer with hearts around it and I have already told my husband that if the time ever came I would totally pull a Monica Lewinsky on him. He seems okay with it.

In other non-Kelly family related news, the fabric for my chairs is still not out which is so bad because it gives me time to change my mind over and over again. Not only am I terrible at making decisions but I always end up wishing I had made a different one after I finally do make the decision. I am the person at the restaurant that takes forever to decide what to order and then wishes I had ordered what you ordered for the rest of the meal. Anyway, now I am thinking of painting my dining room table and chairs a brighter color. Like an distressed teal or a bright red. These bookshelves are such a great color and I love this red bed. Both of these pictures are from Anna Maria Horner’s blog. I love her style. I mean just look at this sofa. It is covered in her fabric. I LOVE IT! This is definitely the fabric I am going to use for the chairs. Any advice? I guess it is hard to say when you haven’t seen the table. Here is the post I did when I painted them months ago. I do really like white furniture. And I want to put in a bright colored chandelier like the one from Heather Bailey's blog I posted about months ago. I am thinking in orange (oh my mother would pass out if I did that...hee hee) which would probably be a little over the top with brightly colored furniture.

Okay, back to work. At least there will be basketball on tonight. I hope Louisville beats NC. I know I know….I am still bitter. And happy trails Miss Lisa. Hope you’re having fun in Chicago. My blog is a lonely place without you ;)

Weekend Maddness

I am not doing so hot with my bracket. In fact, if the goal of the bracket was to pick who does not win the game, I would be nearly perfect. So....it is another year and another crappy bracket. Oh well...this weekend is going to be full of basketball and while it is very unlikely that we will get to watch any of it except maybe the KU game tonight because it starts so late, I am still feeling the thrill of the NCAA tourney. I love this time of year. Go HAWKS!

See...I told you

My photos don't even come close.
Tonight for dinner we had potato soup, salad, asparagus and whole wheat drop biscuits.

I am stealing her blog ::Things that make me happy Thursday

I feel like posting today even though I don't have anything to talk about. Oh, who am I kidding, I always have something to talk about but most of the time it isn't anything you would want to read about. There is all kinds of stories from NPR today that I could rant about. Or I could complain about my lack of sleep or tell you all about the books I am reading or pillow I made last week...but truth be told, I don't really feel like talking about that stuff anyway. What I do like is posting pictures of the new meals that I am going to try this week. The photos and recipes are from my favorite vegan site http://veganyumyum.com/ Even if you are not a vegan you might like going there just for the food porn. And besides, for Things that Make me Happy Thursday, this site really fits the bill. Tuesday is Wonton Soup

Saturday is Pan Fried Tofu, Kale and Stir Fried Noodles Sunday is Rutabaga Sweet Potato Soup with Fried Spaghetti Squash and Toasted Pepitas
and Pumpkin Cookies
Monday I am thinking Apple Cranberry Salad with Fried Seitan and Almond Dijon Dressing
And Saturday morning I think we'll have Lemon Maple Scones

Tonight I am making a potato soup which I will post pictures of, if you like, but it will pale in comparison to Lolo photos above.

Inspiration

My search for fabric for my dining room chairs had lead me to discover Anna Maria Horner, an amazing and inspirational fabric designer. I had a feeling that I would like her style when I read that she lists Frida as one of her inspirations but I had no idea how much I would love her work. I seriously want to fill my entire house with her fabric. This is a photo from her blog and the fabric under her arm is the one I preordered for my dining room chairs but I am thinking actually using it for curtains because the print is just so amazing I hate to cut it up into small sections for chairs. I love both the fabric for her dress and the fabric on the sofa so if I do decide to change it up I know that I have a ton of options from her line. I am so excited, I just can't wait to get started.

Enough!

I am going to rant for a second and it is probably going to be over the top and sarcastic so be prepared. I am so so so so so tired of hearing about what Barak Obama’s former pastor said in the past or is saying now. Quite honestly I can’t believe we were ever talking about it and are still talking about it now. I went to Catholic school and attended a Catholic church until I was in my 20’s and the priest said all kinds of crazy shit about gay people and birth control and submitting to your husband and did the fact that I sat there mean that I agreed with what he was saying…hell no! I could have chugged down my birth control pill with the communion wine and not given two shits about it. And the fact of the matter is that that is how we all are, so people need to let it go and quit acting like Obama said it. He didn’t. And not only that but he gave an eloquent speech explaining to all of us how he felt about it and yet we are still talking about it, it’s stupid.

In addition to that the crap that is going on in the White House right now and has been going on for almost 8 years is enough to make any logical person pack up a bag and drive to Canada and the fact that we are giving any news time to something some old preacher said years ago is insane. News flash- the 4000th soldier died in Iraq today. They don’t even have a good count of the number of Iraqi people that have died…but we know that it is hundreds of thousands of people. Take a moment that think about that…..Hundreds of thousands of people......for what?..............Last year dozens of tax loops holes for rich people that were once closed were reopened by the Bush administration so that rich people could buy yachts and second and third houses without paying taxes. Reversing those tax laws would bring in 28 million dollars just in the state of California alone. But instead of doing that they are laying off firemen and closing down animal shelters...That is some shady shit! Last week one of the biggest financial institutions in the US just went bankrupt. We are in a recession. All of our jobs are going overseas. We are paying $4.00 a gallon for gas. 1 in 3 people will get cancer. Your next hamburger might be from a cloned cow (which from a biology person I can tell you is freakin scary). COME ON PEOPLE, THERE IS MORE IMPORTANT STUFF TO TALK ABOUT.

Not to mention the fact that I just can’t imagine that an intelligent person that is not a total racist redneck or just plan ignorant of what it is like for minorities in this country could argue the point anyway. If you have a male black friend that has not been pulled over for fitting a description or following around by grocery store security then you live in a Utopia, please clear out your guest room for the Kelly family. Has Hillary Clinton experienced what it is like to be a black man in America? No, she hasn’t. You can’t argue with that. Has Obama experienced what it is like to be a white woman in America? No, he hasn’t. It is not a headline, it is a fact. People like to drive by my husband and I when are walking on the street and yell stuff at us out of their trucks. Is that because I am a white woman? No it is because I am married to a black man. There is an elephant in the room, folks, and god forbid that someone actually say something about it…oh no, that will make white people uncomfortable. Poor white people, they have their feelings hurt. Let’s see…hurt feelings vs. a hundred years of enslavement followed by another 100 years of segregation and prejudice…hummm…yup, I am pretty sure that we should be mad at the black guy. COME ON! This news story is fucking twisted and I am about 1 news blip away from turning off NPR until next November. Damn!