Glitter, the Herpes of Craft Supplies

News flash: it's winter!  Not only is it winter, it's freaking frigid out there!  I am not a fan of winter.  If I didn't have so much family in central Pennsylvania, I would move south.  Unfortunately, that's not an option right now, so I have to make due.  Making due for myself is rather easy.  If it were just me, I would hunker down with a hot cup of tea and a good book and send myself into a semi-hibernation until May.  But it's not just me.  I have these two rug rats in my care who, if left to their own devices, can wreak quite a bit of havoc on pretty much anything that falls in their path.  Sub-zero temps, sunset before 6, no cable, and two boys with cabin fever don't always make for a peaceful home environment.  What's a mom to do?  At one point, I saw Jake sitting in a chair in the living room staring blankly into space this evening.  When I asked him what he was doing, and his response was, "Oh, just trying not to have a nervous breakdown," I knew I had to do something!  

I'm not super creative.  In fact, I'm pretty run-of-the-mill boring myself, so I tend to fall back on the same tricks over and over.  If it ain't broke, then don't fix it!  The boys are pretty easily satisfied with what Andrew calls "spariments."  They like to mix stuff together and see what happens.  I can do that.  I don't like the mess, but I can corral them fairly well, and I can also turn a "spariment" into a semi-science lesson, so that's what we tend to do.  That's certainly what we did tonight.  

We started with a rather odd combination that I found on Pinterest.  We mixed a bunch of ice cubes with baby oil.  Guess what it made?  Yep, you got it ~ slippery ice cubes!

If nothing else, it will help with winter dry skin, right? 

Then we sprinkled gold glitter all over the oiled ice.  Actually, it was pretty cool.  They looked like little gold nuggets!  

"Hey, Mom.  My new nickname will be Goldfinger!"

"Jake, this is like treasure!"  

See, it all really is a matter of perspective.  The pot o' gold was right here in my kitchen all along!  

"I'm finally rich, Mom.  Now you can get your skinny ass!" 

Next, we filled a pan with milk and put drops of food coloring in the corners.  You know you have a nerdy son when he correctly guesses that adding a drop of dish soap will cause the milk to repel the soap and dispel the food coloring like sunbursts in the milk.  What kind of 9 year old talks like that?  

"Jake, look at that!  Isn't it cool?"

"Yes, Andrew.  The colors are dissipating in the milk and merging together."  

Here's what Andrew and I (the lesser of the household species tonight) called, rainbow milk.  

Of course, even a nerd can't resist the desire to fling colored milk onto his brother when given the chance.  

Mixing it all together to make camo-green.  Fun times.  Fun times.  

Next, we played with shaving cream.  Why not?  It's cheap and fun.  

Throw some food coloring into the shaving cream and you get some pretty awesome (and semi-permanently stained) hands.  

And lastly, the old stand-by, baking soda and vinegar explosions.  

Guess how long we were occupied with these awesome experiments?  

Probably about 45 minutes.  Eeee.... how much longer til spring?  

Let me just end with this thought ~ I hate glitter.  It migrates to everything it touches.  Heck, it migrates to things it doesn't touch!  Try as I might to contain the brilliance, I know I will be finding gold in crevices for weeks.  Is it bad to dump baby oil full of gold glitter down the drain?  Don't tell my husband if it is! One time, shortly after I graduated college, when I was living in an apartment with some friends in downtown Pittsburgh, I poured candle wax down the kitchen sink.  I don't know why I did it.  It was a white candle, and when white wax melts, it's clear like water.  I was really using my  $100K Allegheny College education when I didn't think ahead enough to realize that once the wax cooled, it would solidify into what the plumber said was "something he had never before encountered in a clogged drain."  I'm suddenly rethinking that decision to dump the shimmery baby oil down the sink.  Right now, I'm praying I don't find a mini razzle-dazzle votive in the kitchen trap in the morning!

Hmmm....fingers crossed!

Greetings From Your Trend-Impaired Fashionista

Is there an area of your life where you feel completely inept, no matter how hard  you try to improve it?  I feel deficient in a lot of areas, but none so much as in the realm of fashion.  I'm never up on the latest trends.  I never look in vogue.  No matter how I try to spin it, or how hard I try to upgrade my appearance, I always feel just a tad, if not more, frumpy.  

This Christmas, my sister gave me a very nice sweater with a coordinating necklace.  Before I could even say one word about the gift, she barked, "Just wear the necklace.  It goes with the sweater."  It does go with the sweater, but it's big, and it's definitely not something I would have picked on my own.  My sister was born in style.  It's something that comes very naturally to her.  She always looks good, even in sweat pants.  I, on the other hand got the brains in the family, not the elegance.  (OK, OK, I don't really have much in the brain department either.  Boy, I got screwed!)  In fact, it's pretty much a guarantee that if I look decent, I was either dressed by someone else or given the outfit as a hand-me-down from my (younger) sister or my aunt.  Try as I might, I can't do it on my own.  

I hate going to big Christmas parties, or weddings or anything else that requires dressing up - not because I don't like crowds.  In fact, I love getting together with others.  It's because I don't want to get dressed up.  It's not even a matter of discomfort.  I know plenty of people who don't feel comfortable in "dress-up" clothes.  I don't mind wearing high heels and fancy stuff, I just never feel like what I pick is nearly as stylish as what everyone else is wearing. I've been known to take pictures of myself in dressing room mirrors and send them to my sister, because she's the only one who will give me a brutally honest opinion...usually something along the lines of a simple one-word reply: "ugly."    

This is not a new problem.  It's pretty much a congenital flaw.   Very early on in elementary school, I can remember wondering how everyone knew that Tretorns  were the "in" sneaker that year, or that Umbros were the "must have" shorts of the summer.   It seemed to me like I would always arrive at school on the first day, after having done my back-to-school shopping with my mother, completely missing the fads that everyone else had somehow picked up on.  How do people know, especially little kids, what's in and what's not?  

Now, part of this stems from a general disregard of pop culture.  It's not that I denounce TV or music.  I have some shows that I (used to) watch, some movie stars that I like, and I definitely like music.  But I guarantee you that I am lost in every lunch-room conversation that involves a celebrity.  I just don't care about those things.  I don't know who is who, or who is wearing what, obviously.  I've looked at magazines and pictures of models, but I always feel this surreal sense of, "that can't be real."   Do real people wear that kind of stuff?  I doubt it.  I certainly wouldn't.  Maybe that's part of the problem.

The summer after 6th grade, my mother took us bathing suit shopping.  I was bound and determined to get a chic new suit, and I found the perfect neon yellow and hot pink number with a zipper down the front.  (Keep in mind, I was skinny then, and this happened in the 1980's.)  I can remember my mom saying at least 20 times, "Are you sure about that suit?  If I buy it, you have to wear it.  I'm not buying another suit."  Even mom, from whom I inherited my lack of fashion sense, knew that something with neon colors was not my style.  I begged for it, and she bought it.  Guess what?  I hated that suit.  It was too pink and TOO yellow...and a zipper?  What the heck?  I spent the whole summer hiding it under a nice long t-shirt.  

In many ways, I have not evolved from this swim-suit scenario.  At least once every year, I go shopping with the intent to buy more trendy clothing.  I look at the models in the stores. (Side note here - why do they feel the need to put erect nipples on mannequins?  I find that more than a little repulsive. Is that really necessary?) I never take anyone with me, because I always feel grossly self-conscious trying on clothes with someone else.  I'm not a modest person.  It has nothing to do with my body image.  Clothes shopping is a glaring example of my short-comings, and I can't take the spotlight on my weakness.  It makes me feel like a total idiot.  It's just something I have to do alone.  I try to keep in mind my sister, and my friends who I consider to be on-top of the trends, when I am picking out clothes.  I try on at least 75 different outfits that feel out of my comfort zone.  Often I buy an outfit or two and think, "I'll grow to like it.  It's in style."  Then one of two things happen - either my sister looks at me and says, "That's ugly," (fail again!) or I feel so uncomfortable in what I've purchased that I never wear it outside of my house.  9 times out of 10, clothes shopping ends up being a huge waste of money, and an even bigger blow to my self-esteem.  I try to avoid it as much as possible.  

This weekend I revisited the "shop for something stylish" script.  I was going to wait until I lost a few more pounds, but the truth is that I need new pants now.  Mine either don't fit or are really worn.  And since summer stuff is coming out, I figured I could get something decent on sale.  I did get items on sale, that's for sure.  I bought 3 pairs of pants, a pair of jeans, 3 shirts and a pair of boots for $130.00.  Not bad.  Even better, considering that I had $75 in gift cards and $50 in cash from Christmas.  This is how it went:  first of all, I was bound and determined to buy a pair of boots, because everyone is wearing boots.  I knew if I bought boots, I had to buy pants that were skinny legged, to fit inside the boots.  The shirts just happened to come along because they were on sale.  I picked out the boots first.  Actually, they were not my first choice, but because of the end of the season and the clearance, they were the only pair that I felt like I could bear to wear.  I just can't wear shoes with 65 buckles, metal studs or fringe.  Those are on my "absolutely not" list.  So I got a basic pair of black leather boots, one buckle, zippering nearly to my knee.  Then I tried on approximately 738 pairs of pants.  I'm super, super picky about pants.  They have to fit perfectly around the waist, and I have real issues with them when they are too long or too short.  I have too many pairs of flood pants right now, and I feel like a total doofus when I wear them.  They have to go.  

I wandered around for what felt like an eternity looking at clothing that made me cringe for a number of reasons.  I am a total fish out of water in the clothing department.  I just wanted to scream, "Someone send me over to the cleaning supplies!"  After about 2 hours at the store, I settled on the three outfits and brought them home.  I tried them on again at home to see if I really liked them, or if I bought them in some kind of store-induced psychosis (hey, it's happened to me many times before).  Here was the verdict:  one was pretty good.  One was pretty good, except I'm still not too sure about the boots.  They kind of make me feel like I should be riding a horse.  The third was "eh," but it's just a pair of black pants (that I already had) and a flowy orange cardigan, to be worn, again, with the boots, which make me feel a little like a jockey.  The jeans are jeans.  They're also boot cut.  And a size 4.  I'm keeping them.  I went  back to the one pair of pants that I hadn't yet tried on.  I put them on and stared into the mirror.  They fit fine, but they were maroon.  Maroon pants.  Who wears maroon pants?  Not this chick.  I sucked it up, endured the crowd and returned them.  I gotta draw the line somewhere.  That line begins with maroon pants.  

I'm going to wear the boots tomorrow.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  A girl should be excited to wear a new outfit, but for me, I always feel rather unsettled.  Skinny pants and boots?  Oh boy.  Deep breath.  I can do it.  What's the worst that can happen?  If it doesn't work out, I can always head to the nearest stable.  Too bad I'm a little afraid of horses...

Cleaning Up My Act

Remember how I used to be super healthy about my eating?  Remember all those posts about running and healthy recipes?  Yeah.  I can remember those days too, but somehow over the last 18 months or so, I threw practically all of my healthy lifestyle out the window.  I've thought about why this happened, but it It doesn't matter when or why I got off track.  It only matters that I get back to that place of optimal health.  Well, my friends, the times, they are a changin'.  

I have been doing my own personal version of a purification program since January 2nd, and I feel great!  I probably shouldn't call it "purification," because I'm not taking the supplements that help to cleanse your body.  I opted out of the official program this year, because, sadly, I'm just too strapped from Christmas right now to afford it.  I believe that taking the supplements in conjunction with a diet change is the best way to go about a cleanse, and I highly recommend seeing Dr. Luke at Health First Chiropractic, if you are interested. You don't need to be a chiropractic patient to do the purification program.  You can find his information by clicking here, and the specifics of the program he uses by clicking here.  I hope to stash away a few bucks to do the program in its entirety sometime before summer, but even without the supplements, I stand by the guidelines for healthful eating.  It's not complicated, and there are no gimmicks.  It's all about clean eating, eliminating the unnatural products that so many of us stuff ourselves with, and instead filling up on nutrition-packed, real food.  Although I hope to lose more than just a handful of pounds, this is not a diet.  It's a lifestyle.  It's about so much more than the number on the scale.  It's about feeling my best, appreciating not just my body, but also the foods that God has provided, perfect in form from their origin.  Most importantly, it's about taking care of myself so that I can live the healthiest life possible.  I have some other changes to make too, but for now, I'm focusing on eating, and I'm feeling better already!

It's not difficult to eat clean foods.  It just takes a little planning and preparation.  There are no magic concoctions or pills.  It also doesn't mean that I am not eating.  I've had so many people say, "I'd be so hungry.  I could never do that."  Not true.  I eat plenty, and I'll share some recipes to prove it!  I just eat differently.  The idea is to get back to eating real food, the way we were intended to eat, before fast food and mass production came into play.  I eat lots of veggies, a good amount of fruit, and lean, unprocessed protein.  No dairy (or very limited dairy at most), no processed foods, no foods with high sugar content, and no refined carbohydrates.  It's not hard to find foods that are allowable.  What's hard is fighting the urges to sneak the "forbidden" foods.  This time around, I decided that I was going to be strict with myself, but that I wasn't going to freak out if I cheated.

I know you're wondering if I have cheated.

Yes.  I have...but not monumentally.  I still drink my morning pot (or close to it) of coffee.  I can't eradicate all of my vices, and the caffeine habit is probably the least offensive one of the group!   I have also had a few pretzel rods, and a few pieces of Dove Dark chocolate.  One night last week, I failed to plan dinner.  I was extremely premenstrual and I didn't get home until close to 6, which is way too late to start cooking something, in my opinion.  We ordered cheese steak sandwiches and pepperoni pizza from a local pizza shop.  It was damn good, and I even drank half of a beer that night too!  That's OK, though.  I ate well up until dinner that day, and I didn't let it derail me completely.  It was just one meal, and the next morning I picked up right where I left off.    I know that a lot of my previous issues come from my tendency to have an "all or nothing" mentality.   Instead of giving myself some slack to make a few mistakes here and there, I beat myself up over the smallest mistakes, and then I give up.  I know, looking back on when I was on my super-health kick, that I didn't eat 100% right, 100% of the time.  It's about finding the right balance.  It's OK to have a glass of wine once in a while.  It's OK to have a piece of pizza for dinner or a couple chunks of chocolate too, as long as those are the exception, not the rule.  And it's OK to slip up, as long as I keep heading in the right direction.  I'm tired of starting over.  I'm biting the bullet, getting back on the horse, driving the bleeping wagon - whatever you want to call it.  I'm not giving up again.  It's just like cleaning and organization - it's so much easier to keep up with a clean house when you do it as a regular part of your routine, instead of letting things go. 

 Again, there are no tricks or shortcuts, just plain on discipline.  I started listening to the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course (Thanks, Julie for lending me your CDs!).  One of the things he talks about on the first CD is how no one really likes discipline, but that we all reap the benefits of it, if we are diligent.  He references the bible when he says,  "I don't like discipline...but I do like, in my life, what discipline produces...No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it."  Discipline gives us the ability to look beyond instant gratification and see how the advantages of self-control now significantly outweigh and outlive short-term indulgence.  I love sweets.  They are my ultimate downfall.  An occasional sweet treat is OK, but daily sweet treats make me feel sluggish and unhealthy.  Their reward is short-lived.  Having the discipline to turn down the sweets can be hard.  Let's face it.   It can feel downright impossible at times, but the rewards of making good food choices are long lasting.  I feel better when I eat right, when I drink less alcohol, and when I exercise regularly.  That's the foundation, the one that I need to keep in mind at 5 a.m. when I don't really want to get out of my warm bed to exercise, at the family gathering when I really want to eat 6 cookies instead of one, at home when I tell myself I'm tired of chopping veggies ---- I. Will. Feel.  Better.    

Ahhh....you can breathe a sigh of relief now.  I'm done with my justification-for-clean-eating rant.  Whew! 

I'm sure you want to know about the weight loss, because that's the first thing people ask about.  I lost 6 pounds in the first 3 days!  Now, before you get all excited, let me explain this weight loss - it was water retention.  That sounds like a bummer, but it's not.  It's weight that I needed to lose, but it wasn't like 6 pounds of fat just melted off of me.  Lots of foods, especially highly processed foods, carbohydrates and dairy products cause inflammation in the body.  You retain water because of the inflammation.  By simply eating foods that do not cause such awful inflammation, I lost all the water that I had been retaining.  My clothes didn't fit any differently, but I felt so much less bloated and puffy.  I could see the difference right away in my face.  My eyes weren't puffy when I woke up, and I could see my cheekbones again!  My ass, on the other hand, remains beefy!  Oh well.  It takes longer to lose the fat, and I've got plenty of time - I have the rest of my life! 

The weight loss since then has been much less drastic, but steady nonetheless.   I would like to lose an additional 19 pounds from my initial 6, but I also know that realistically, if I eat the way I should be eating, that I will probably plateau after 10 more.  I'm OK with that.  Along with eating healthy, I have also added to my daily prayers a brief request to God to help me respect and appreciate the body I have, even if it is not the same body I had at 20.  It's the only body I will be given, and I am working on appreciating everything in my life more, including my physical being at whatever stage of life I am in.

Along with debloating, I have noticed a marked increase in energy.  When you stop eating those kinds of highly processed, highly refined foods, you go through a withdrawal period.  It's not just about changing your habits.  It's also a legitimate physical period of withdrawal that you experience.  That said, the pain of getting over the first few days sans carbs is worth it.  Within a week I noticed a huge improvement in my energy level.  No, I'm not really sleeping any better.  I hoped that I would.  (Ha!  I should know better!)  But I no longer feel like I am trudging through mud when I am unable to take that half hour snooze after work.  In fact, while I have taken a few naps, I have also opted out of a few too, because I didn't feel like I needed it! I knew that I felt better when I was eating better.  What I didn't realize was just how bad I was actually feeling when I was partying my way through cake, cookies and chips and dips galore.  Again, the big aha moment: I.  Feel.  Better! 

I have also started back into some light weight training. I'm not doing anything terribly remarkable just yet. Slow and steady, Koelle.  Slow and steady.  I'm sticking to 20 minutes of free weights for the time being.  Once I feel like I've gotten the weights ingrained into my daily routine, I will add more.  Yes, slowly and steadily, I am climbing back into a healthy lifestyle.  I feel encouraged so far, in case you didn't notice!  I hope that your resolutions, whatever they are, are going as well as mine!  If eating right was one of them, maybe you want to try some of these recipes.  The hummus is delicious, and the coconut curry is going to be a sure staple in our home!  

Bean Free Hummus:

1 3/4 cup zucchini, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts

2 T tahini (sesame paste)

2 T EVOO

2 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

dash of cayenne pepper

Throw it all in the food processor and viola!  Mmm! A little warning, though - I used a big clove of garlic, and it was super garlicky!  I like garlic, so I thought it was good, but if you're not a big garlic fan, I would cut the garlic in half, or use a very small clove.  Either way, I recommend making your spouse eat some too, just for good measure! 

Sunflower Sesame Crackers:

1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds

1 cup sesame seeds

1/3 cup water

salt to taste

Pulverize the sunflower seeds in a food processor until they are ground fine like a thick flour.

Add the sesame seeds and pulse them into the ground sunflower seeds.

Throw in some salt.  I like salt, so I probably used half a tsp, maybe more.  You can throw in other spices too, if you want to up the flavor, but I thought they were good like this.

Drizzle water into the mixture and mix until damp and doughy.

Roll the dough out as thinly as possible between two sheets of parchment paper.  Remove the top piece of parchment and place the rolled dough (still on the bottom piece of paper) onto a cookie sheet.  Use a pizza cutter to score the dough.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.  These go wonderfully with the hummus and they're super easy to make!

Coconut Cashew Chicken:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, pounded thin (I didn't bother pounding mine.  I just marinated them for 24 hours instead of only 2, and they were still really good.  I also didn't broil them, I baked them at 400 for 30 minutes - 15 minutes on each side.)

1 cup coconut curry (recipe below)

1/4 cup chopped cashews

Combine chicken and curry and marinate in the fridge for at least two hours.  Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.

Preheat oven to broil.  Place the chicken on a wire rack and cook for twenty minutes, turning at halfway point.

Remove from oven and scatter with cashews. (Honestly, I could take or leave the cashews.  They were fine, but I think it would have been just fine without them.)

This was SO good.  I wish I had set aside some of the marinade to heat and pour over the chicken when it was done.  Next time, I will definitely reserve some for garnish.

Coconut Curry

2 T EVOO

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small tomato, chopped

4 crushed garlic cloves

1 1 inch piece of ginger root (I used 1 tsp ground ginger)

1 tsp garam masala

8 ounces coconut milk

Heat oil in a skillet over a medium flame

Add onion and tomato and cook for 5 minutes

Stir in ginger and garlic and cook for one more minute

Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir occasionally

Add garam masala and simmer for 5 minutes

Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes

Pour into a blender and puree until smooth.

Return to skillet and add coconut milk.  Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Tamales

1 T EVOO

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 cup diced mushrooms

1 cup zucchini, diced

1 pound lean ground beef

1 T ground flax seed meal

1 tsp chili powder

2 scallions, chopped

1/2 tsp ground pepper

8 banana leaves (I couldn't find banana leaves, so I used corn husks), soaked in water for one hour.

Heat oil in a skillet.  Add onion and saute for 5 minutes.

Add mushrooms and zucchini and saute for another 5 minutes

Add beef and stir until thoroughly browned.  Remove from heat.

Stir in flax seed meal, chili powder and scallions.

Arrange in equal portions in husks.  Fold the husks around the beef mixture and tie closed.

Fill a 4 quart pot with 1 inch of water.  Insert steamer basket and bring to a boil.  Place tamales in the basket and cover.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour, checking water level.

I'm not so sure about the wrapping and steaming part of this recipe.  It felt like a lot of extra work for nothing to me.  If tamales are your thing, then go for it.  For me, the meat mixture was good, and I will definitely make it again.  Next time, though, I'm going to stick it in a casserole dish and bake it for a little bit instead of making actual tamales.

That's all for now!  Stay tuned for more updates and recipes! 

Happy cooking, and healthy eating to all!

Confession of a Mysophobe

Is anybody else out there a germaphobe?  Tell me I'm not alone!

I was always a neat freak, but I wasn't always so paranoid about germs.  This irrational fear of viruses has been like a snowball, slowly gaining girth over the past decade or so.  At this point, it's way bigger than me! With flu season at its peak, and being as severe as it is this year, I feel like I'm living in a constant state of hyper-awareness. I am living my own personal variant of "Doomsday Preppers."  My version is called "Anti-Virus Prepper," and I have surrounded myself with mounds of Clorox wipes and cans of Lysol as defense.

My boss's daughter was sent home from school with a stomach bug Thursday.  The first thing I said to my boss (after, "Aw, poor girl," of course) was "make sure you Lysol everything - remote controls, telephones, light switches, doorknobs, faucets, keyboards..."  In fact, just thinking about that conversation lead me to pause blogging so that I could wipe down my own phone, keyboard and mouse with alcohol pads.  I'm not kidding.  I'm paranoid!

Even though I was really overwhelmed with paperwork yesterday, before I could dig into that monumental pile of folders on my desk, I had (and I mean HAD) to clean my office.  People all through my building are sick, and the kids are also dropping like flies!  I spent the first15 minutes of my day sanitizing my work space - desk, phone, computer, light switch, doorknob, etc.  I wiped everything with Clorox wipes and then sprayed Lysol for good measure.  I even sprayed my keys.  Once that was done,  I was able to focus.  Before I did it, all I could do was envision microbial creatures sneaking into my body, multiplying and nesting.  Disgusting!  I shudder at the thought.

Honestly, I rarely get sick.  Knock on wood.  (Watch, I'll have the damn flu tomorrow.)  My fear really isn't so much about the illness itself.  I'm young.  I'm in good health.  I can handle being uncomfortable for a while.  I'm not afraid for my well-being.  Actually, I have practically no fears of cold-like viruses and sore throats.  I don't want to have a cold, but it's highly unlikely that I will.   If I do, it'll probably be short-lived anyway.  And while colds and sore throats are uncomfortable, they don't completely wipe you out of commission, nor do they cause a huge mess.  It's the stomach bugs that make me panic. When I say panic, I'm not exaggerating.  If someone tells me that they, or anyone they have been in contact with, has recently vomited, I go into a germ-resistant, self-preservation trance.  I don't hear anything that they say beyond the word "vomit."  I instantly feel compelled to wash my hands, and sometimes I even secretly hold my breath until I can get away from that person.  I have thrown away pens that people have used, if I know that they or someone they know has puked within the last 72 hours.  I will not eat in a room where I know someone who has thrown up, or someone who has been in contact with someone who has thrown up, has been.  If you tell me that you or a friend has been vomiting in your presence, as soon as you leave, I will disinfect everything you came into contact with.  If you are a good friend, I will probably do it while you are still with me.  In fact, I may even disinfect you!

While all of that is a little over the top, the worst part of it is my reasoning for this anxiety.  I'm not delusional.  I know I have issues.  No, I don't want to get sick, but it's not the fear of sickness that compels me.  It's the aversion to mess.  If I get the stomach bug, I will not be happy.  I will whine and complain about how miserable I am, but I will make it to the bathroom.  If my kids get the stomach bug, there will be vomit all over my house - all through their beds, on my furniture, on my white rug.  Admittedly, the thought of cleaning up puke, with the possibility of permanent staining on items that I can't just throw away, and the stench of vomit permeating my house makes me feel more than a little edgy.  I can't take it!  Please God, keep this house vomit free!!!

Really, I'm OK with a little bit of OCD.  I don't want to get sick, and the best way to prevent illness is to clean.  But I also worry a little about the progression of my obsession.  Right now, it's just a tad over-kill.  Where will it be 10 years from now?  20?  Am I going to end up like Monk?  I'm hoping the OCD plateaus, but I suppose only time will tell.  For now, I gotta run.  I'm pretty sure my sinks need to be bleached...oh, and the doorknobs...and I may as well get the light switches too, while I'm at it.

Flubber Flub

I hate the short days of winter.  It gets dark so early, and all I really want to do is snuggle up and go to bed...at 6:00!  Since I really can't do that, I've been looking for things for us to do at home together to bide the time.  We've played all kinds of board games over the last few months, and tonight I think we were all just a little gamed-out.  It's hard to find activities that both of the kids will enjoy, since they are 5 years apart.  General science-like experiments usually do the trick, because Jake likes nothing more than to mix concoctions, and Andrew enjoys anything that involves food coloring.  

Tonight I decided to make flubber with the kids, but I didn't have enough glue for the traditional recipe.  I googled recipes without glue and found one that seemed like it would meet our needs.  The kids had a blast making a huge mess with cornstarch, flour, water and food coloring.  Unfortunately, the end product was more like play dough than flubber.  I was going to share the recipe, but since it didn't work out so well, I decided it really wasn't worth the extra typing effort.  Oh well, it's the process, not the product that counts!  

At first, Jake seemed a little nervous about making flubber.

"Eh...is this what it's supposed to look like?"

"Yep, Jake.  That's what mine looks like too!"

As soon as they were able to put their hands into the mess, and get down and dirty, he started having fun! 

A little flubber Rorschach testing...what do you see here?  

Andrew saw a bunch of navy blue dots in white goop, while Jake saw something much more interesting! 

A little kneading does a boy good! 

"Mom!  I'm a mess!" 

Yes, dear.  That's why we have a drop cloth and a plastic dollar store table cover! 

Jake's final masterpiece before scrapping the gooey mess - a flubbed flubber pig.  Awesome! 

What do you do to pass the time on cold winter nights?  

Trying to Save

I've been feeling this pull to simplify things lately.  It started before Christmas.  Originally, I just chalked it up to the holiday buzz, but it hasn't let up in the last week.  In fact, it seems stronger.   There's a good possibility that I'm still simply reeling from the havoc that Christmas can reap, but maybe it's more than just the Christmas clutter that's getting to me.  Either way, simplifying is a good idea.  The fact of the matter is that we spend too much money, and we have way too much stuff.  I need to get rid of some of the junk that is cluttering our home (and thereby my mind), and tighten my wallet as well.

I feel like I have a pretty good grip on how to get my home in order.  In fact, there's not a whole lot that I need to do in that area.  There are some places that could be a little better organized, but I'm fairly certain that my house would beat at least 75% of the population as far as organization goes - and I'm not being cocky.  I like order, and I keep things orderly.  I don't neglect things for long, because I expend more energy fretting about undone tasks than than it takes to just fix it!   So, I have the skills necessary to tackle the first step in my simplification goal, but I'm not so sure I have the skills I need for the second part.

I have never considered myself to be frivolous with money.  I feel like I budget well.  I plan for the future and put money aside for upcoming events on a regular basis.  Still, money somehow has gotten tight over the last year.  Part of the problem is just the economy.  While prices have increased, our income has not.  We pay more for utilities, groceries, gas and childcare than we did when we got married 6 years ago. Nonetheless, I know people who pay much less than I do for those same services, and who live on much smaller incomes than we do.  So how do those people do it?  I must be missing something.

Clearly, the first step in saving money is to spend less, but how do I spend less without compromising our quality of life?  I could do less, but that's not really the direction I want to go.  I would sacrifice activities if I had to, but as much as the "Go! Go! Go! Do! Do! Do!" lifestyle exhausts me, I also enjoy it.   I don't feel like we do anything that is unreasonable.  We have host a good many gatherings, and we attend a lot of get-togethers too.  We go on a decent vacation once a year.  We take the kids to their activities.  We spend a lot of time with family and friends, and frankly, that's the way we want to spend our lives.  We always have something going on, but those things are rarely extravagant.  But even humble gatherings can be expensive.  How do I whittle the money spent on gatherings without compromising the quality?

Even things that are seemingly very low-key can be pricey.  Take going out on the pontoon boat, for example.   Really, what's simpler than a day on the lake?  Nothing!  Boating is definitely not on my list of items to eradicate, but it's also not cheap to run that big boat, to feed us (and hydrate...or dehydrate, depending on which of us you are talking about) for the day, not to mention the gas to get to the lake and back...you see what I mean?  What can I budget differently, so that we don't necessarily feel the pull of a tighter wallet?  Here's another example of the frustration I am feeling: I can't get my grocery bill under $200 a week to save my life.  I am a planner.  I make meal lists.  I make my grocery lists from my planned meals.  I cut coupons, but the bill is nearly the same amount ever single week.  What gives?  There has to be a better way, and I'm betting at least some of you who read my blog have some good suggestions.

Here's what else I do to try to save:

• I make my own laundry detergent
• I use plain bleach and water to clean a lot of things (I know, bleach is really bad for you, but it kills germs and is super cheap).  I have a bottle of ecologically safe, highly concentrated cleaner that I use for almost everything else.  It's not very expensive and it lasts forever (and I hope that the "green" factor in that cleaner offsets the copious amounts of bleach I have been using).
• I try to buy non-food items at Target when I can, so that I have stock-piled things like shampoo, razors, toothpaste, toilet paper, etc.  Buying those things at the grocery store is a sure way to jack up the bill!
• We put plastic on our windows this year to help with the heating bill.
• I try to drive reasonably.  We need the car, but I don't let it idle, and if I have a lot of errands, I calculate the most efficient order in which to run them, so that I save time and money.
• Andrew has practically no new clothes aside from shoes.  I have saved everything of Jake's for him.
• I rarely buy myself new clothes either.  I shop for a few things once or twice a year.  (Yes, that explains my appearance.)

I don't know what else to do.  If we had a smaller mortgage, if I didn't have all those student loans, we would be a lot more comfortable.  Unfortunately, those two debts aren't going anywhere, so I need to learn to save with what I've got.  I'd love some suggestions on how to save money!

Did I mention that I'm looking for suggestions?  Help!  I know there's a wealth of knowledge out there!  Please share!

New Years This and That

Ahhh....I've finally reached the end of the holiday posts!  For some reason, I didn't take any pictures on New Year's Day, but I did take a few on New Year's Eve.  This year was fairly low-key for us.  Greg worked during the day on New Year's Eve, and he had to be at work by 6 on New Year's Day (leaving home by 530 a.m.), so we kept our partying to a minimum.

On New Year's Eve, the boys and I played outside in the snow for a while.  We made this awesome snowman:

Andrew sang "Frosty the Snowman" the whole time we were making it, and Mr. "stick-to-the-facts-Jake" kept insisting that it was not possible for this snowman to be Frosty, because we did not have the proper attire - top hat, button nose, eyes made out of coal, not to mention the corncob pipe...

We also tried out what I thought was going to be a really cute idea I saw on Pinterest.  We filled balloons with water and food coloring and set them out to freeze.  They were supposed to look like this:

(click here to see the full directions) 

Aren't they cool?  

Unfortunately, ours did not live up to our expectations.  I'm not sure what I did wrong.  I followed the directions, which seemed pretty simple.  It took FOREVER for the dang things to freeze!  Even with temperatures in the teens at night, it took several days for them to solidify.  When we thought they were frozen, we took the balloons off.  It turned out that they weren't frozen the whole way through, so all of the colored water spilled right out into the snow, leaving us with only a faintly tinted, hollow ball of ice.  What a bummer....but Andrew had fun smashing the ice balls on the sidewalk, so all was not for naught!  

In the early afternoon on New Year's Eve, I put the kids down for a rest (Andrew sleeps, Jake has quiet time) and joined Sam for an afternoon snooze! Cats really know how to live! 

In the evening, we went to my brother-in-law's house for some snacks and drinks.  The kids had a great time playing together, and it was nice to visit, as always.  Above are the happy hosts - Rob and Monique.  

Siblings - Scott, Dalann & Greg

Ed had no one to snuggle with while I was taking pictures, so he hugged his imaginary friend.  She's apparently a tiny gal! 

It made the boys feel bad to see their dad playing with an imaginary pal, so they joined him for a group shot.

Dalann and Freddie

Me and Greg  

Andrew, Tony and Jake

Savannah and Kiersten

On New Year's Eve, Greg, Andrew and I were home by 10 and asleep by 1030.  Sounds boring, but honestly, it suits me just fine.  I'm not a night owl anymore.  I like being asleep early - the earlier, the better!  

We spent the latter half of this week attempting to get back into our normal routine.  I started back to work on Wednesday and Andrew returned to Harbor House.  Jake returned to school on Thursday.  I think we were all a little tired by Friday!  We got used to daily naps (I did, anyway!), but we did pretty well.  Greg feels depressed when the holidays are over, but I usually feel a sense of relief.  I love the gatherings, and I know how blessed we are to be surrounded by friends and family, but I also love the routine and order that can't be found in that time between Thanksgiving and New Years. 

 

Santa brought Jacob a "Kitty College" set, which included games that you can play with your cat.  We spent Wednesday evening assembling the game, and playing with the cat.  I can't think of anything that makes Jake laugh more than the cat.  It's so fun to watch him interact with Sam, even if Sam thinks we're, well, stupid humans!  

He looks like he doesn't like the red, fluffy ball, but let me tell you, it was his absolute favorite!  

And of course we spent lots of time playing with the Furbies.  I have heard so many people complaining about their Furbies, but we love ours!  Ours do not talk randomly at night.  The cat is not afraid of them, and I actually think they're pretty cute.  In fact, I might just get one for myself...

OK, probably not, but I can play with the ones we have!