On Becoming My Mother...

It happens to us all... You get settled into a charmingly animated discussion when all of a sudden your mother comes out of your mouth to word-bomb you! There is no way to control it, she's just there. Your friends have no idea that inside you are panicking a bit bc your brain has just been high-jacked by someone two states away! It's highly unsettling and more than a little frightening.

 

I love my mommily.

 

But still frightening.

 

A lot has happened in my most recent past:

The loss off my dearest Piggy

The adoption of Bingley the sweetest puppy ever.

My amazing little TJ-niece.

And not least a new job in a new state. The search and acceptance of my position at the University of Montana has brought new light to my life. I could not imagine a better fit for this point in my career. On top of that, this week I acheived a huge career goal. Something I have been planning and pining for since I was a lowly undergraduate. I was on the medical staff for the Winter X-Games in Aspen.

It was an incredible week

 

Major left turn -- my mommily talks to everyone. It used to embarrass me SO MUCH, everyone in the grocery store line knew way too many details about me. However, when I got to Aspen I made a conscious decision, I was going to talk. To everyone. And I did! I talked to course workers and door-folks, cameramen, photographers, coaches, athletes, even the Columbian musician next to me on my flight (free CD.. Woo!). I heard some amazing stories and learned so much. I'm still sorting and storing things in my brain.

All of this talking helped me to finally realize why my mommily was the neighborhood mom. And why EVERYONE that meets her loves her. She is genuinely happy and interested in everyone she meets. She doesn't have to listen to people's stories, she chooses to. Her interaction with so many unknown faces has enriched and deepened her connection with humanity. She is the most empathetic person I know, sometimes much to my frustration, it's her nature.

The point of all of this is that I CHOSE to be happy, I CHOSE to be friendly and outgoing. These are new decisions for me. Decisions I just recently, at 29 years old, realized that I can make. I choose every day how to react to life. I am still much more reserved than my mommily, but when I hear her pop out of my mouth it's not so scary. And most surprising to me is how positively people respond, I'm no longer embarrassed when random people know some of my life details.

I am very happy with 2014 so far. And I will continue to be, because I say so. This year my resolution is to be HAPPY. It took people soaring over my head on skis and snowboards to realize it, but it's the best resolution I've ever made. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be the easiest to keep. Though I still have frustration, boredom, illness, exhaustion, and all of those other life stressors they won't deter me. I will go into my 30's (EEEK!) happy.

 

 

 

P.s... I knitted the Red Riding Hood on my adorable niece!

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Its Been a While...

Its true... I went back to my non-blogger roots. But, I am determined to turn it back around. So many new and awesome adventures to talk about... and this way strangers can read them instead of me repeating them to friends and family over and over and over...

I have been knitting... it has been -10 degrees for 2 weeks, and I have been knitting. I'd like to say to stay warm, however ususally my fingers freeze so I have to take breaks. I'm pretty sure my new co-workers believe I live in a bowl full of knitting, its been bad. So bad in fact that my office ususally looks like this:

 

 

and I have begun counting my projects based on how many I can accomplish in a day, as opposed to how many weeks it will take.

 

I'm finding that people in Montana actually appreciate hand knitted goods, which makes me feel warm and fuzzy (no its not just the wine!). This year I am finally creating presents for christmas. Hours and hours are being spent on fun little scarves and hats for friends and family. Its such a lovely feeling! I cant wait for the first present, shipped out yesterday, to be opened!

 

Well I suppose its time to get back to my knitting... I mean office work... now. Pictures to come!

 

Too Squishy to Mooove...

This morning I had one of those "extra comfy bed" mornings... where you wake up and you're so cozy and content in bed that its absolutely unthinkable to get up when the alarm goes off. Case and point: my alarm went off at 630, I got out of bed at 815. Even Pig was annoyed when the stupid thing started beeping. She had been annoyed with me since about 9pm the night before... I made up a song about her being fat... "Thin Kitty, Fat Kitty, Long Like a Hotdog, Round Like a Hamburger" I'm a master of rhythm and rhyme.

Anyway, as promised this week I made some delicious Cornish Pasties, or as I'd prefer to call them Hand Pies. I just realized that these little pocket meals are probably the basis for Hot Pockets... anyway. I found the recipe through My Friend Pinterest and edited it to my liking. Here is the original recipe: http://www.diamondsfordessert.com/2010/01/cornish-pumpkin-pasties.html#more

My Finished Product

Crust

4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2c. Butter

1/2c. Dill flavored Chevre
6 tbsp ice water
1 tsp salt

Insides

1pkg Hot Ground Pork

1pkg frozen peas/carrots/corn

1 medium onion

2 cloves fresh garlic

EVOO

2tbsp flour

milk

I sauteed all of the insides together and then followed the directions from the original recipe to fill and bake them. They definitely didn't have to bake as long as the gal said, but they turned out delicious!!

I found out something terrible after the fact. The flour I used has 100cal for every 1/4c.!!! it seems sooo high. I was pretty depressed when I realized that, but now I'm over it. Will just have to really work in my workouts.

This weekend I am going to Miami for a work trip. Nothing too exciting. But in 3 weeks I'm going to Orlando for vacation! My friend and I have been planning what we are going to do for the time I'm there. And by planning I mean choosing restaurants of course... Florida twice in a month, kinda crazy!

*UPDATE on my other projects*

I had to transplant my Herby's to another container. I had a long conversation with a drunk farmer who explained why the glass jar system wouldn't work. I also transplanted my undead strawberries.

I am still using the face oiling and the daily oatmeal/almond scrub it is fantastic. My skin feels great. This week I am battling a pms breakout (boo...) and got to try some of Crunchy Betty's remedies! I found them here: http://www.crunchybetty.com/27-quick-and-crunchy-home-remedies-for-pimples

I am also still washing my hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar. So far so good, occasional static but nothing terrible.

The End!

Challenge Accepted!

Recently I was browsing through the pages of Better Homes and Gardens. I got a free subscription to the magazine a few months ago by sending in the back of two baking soda boxes and my receipt from the store... thus insuring that I had just become the only person on the planet subscribed to bh&g without grandchildren. Looking back on it now, I am also the only person (withoug grandchildren) that would take anyone up on their "mail-in offer". Oh well... I have always sworn that I'm 90yrs old on the inside. Anyway! Inside that lovely spring issue I found a recipe for "Never Fail Biscuits"... Well BH&G... Challenge Accepted!

It seemed simple enough, all the ingredients were waiting patiently in my baking cabinet. I didn't even have to soften any butter. Butterless biscuits, who knew? Or as my lovely sister said "whats the point?". I had bought 2 pints of fresh strawberries at the farmers market over the weekend and decided that instead of blueberries I would put those in. Also, when my lovely sister and mommy were in town we picked up some Quinoa flour... of which I had no clue what to do with. So I decided to try it in this "fail proof recipe". I halved the regular flour and threw in the strawberries and mixed away. This so called "fail proof recipe" said that once everything was mixed that you could add extra flour if needed (I did) and that you wanted it just wet so you could sorta pat it out and cut it into squares. I did as it told me... added another full CUP of flour (so much for the quinoa) and it was still sopping wet. I figured maybe I needed to mix it more... I dumped it on my counter with more flour and proceeded to kneed it. I would love to show you a picture of the mess that ensued, but... well... my cell phone is already messed up enough from having food and things spilled on it. There was no way to cut the dough (batter) into squares so I just slopped it into ball type forms on the cookie sheets.

Strawberry Biscuits

Challenge failed...

Challenge followed with...

Much better use of the strawberries!

Oh well... On another note I FINALLY!!! finished a knitting project. My dear blog is now properly named. 

 its a Scarf!

No! its a Cowel!

Funny thing about these pictures is its about 90 degrees outside and I had to put a sweatshirt over my tank top to make them look believable... oh well. Its purdy! It is also now packed away with my other winter gear... lol

I cannot wait to go home from work because I am going to cook some tasties! I have been reading books from my favorite series lately as if they were the last copies on earth and I never get to touch them again... I mean seriously 4 book in as many days... I have an illness. But! in these books they talk a lot about "pocket pies" little yummy filled pies that double as hand warmers! Brilliant! I'm trying my hand at something similar tonight, although like I said its HOT outside so I won't need hand warmers but they will go really well with the rainy grey skies.

Wish me luck!

Hot Tea and Warm Bread

All of my favorite movies are about food, or are anchored by food. I've realized that its not just movies. Books, my other favorite thing, also are often filled with entire chapters about feasts. In fact, my favorite book (the one I got lost in last week) opens with a feast. One that, if it didn't end with the slaughter of the heroin's family, would make me absolutely starving to the point of not being able to continue reading...


 

Anyway, today I get to watch an amazing movie and also bake my yummy weekly bread. I am watching Julie & Julia, about a blogger who cooked her way through Julia Child's: The Art of French Cooking; a feat I find incredibly daunting. However, I do have a few cookbooks that I would love to attempt this with (more on that later...). Its cold outside, and my tea is very comforting. My bread is currently in the oven, starting to smell all grainy and wonderful. This week I decided to make my bread extra chewy. I added oats, flaxseed, and sunflower seeds YUM! I also decided (after starting the movie for a second time) to add butter to the top. Yes that is right, my super healthy, chewy, grainy bread is now smothered in what I would love to tell you is real butter. However, it remains fairly healthy because I used Earth Balance, a vegan version of buttery spread. Oh well... at least it smells like butter.

 

In about 20 minutes I will slice into that lovely hot bread and smother it in cheese until it becomes my absolutely delicious dinner. Bread and cheese is lovely in any form, however, tonight it is even better.

 

A digression - This past weekend my mommy and sister-sue came into town. We got to wander around the beautiful town Asheville. Our adventures led us through The Biltmore Estate, Downtown Asheville, The Grove Park Inn, and of course The Downtown Farmers Market. And while I do love my tiny little Sylva farmers market, I must say the finds at the Asheville one were just fantastic. A spearmint plant to replace one of the little seedlings I killed, making me one step closer to finishing a project from my friend Pinterest, some free range chicken for dinner this week, eggs (of course), and CHEESE!!! We definitely spent at least $15 on cheese, oddly enough both of the flavors are Chevre (goat), something I have never purchased to eat at home. One is a light dill, very tastey. But the main event is the Rosemary Fig Chevre.

Rosemary FIG Chevre!

I love cheese. I believe that cheese make everything better. The funny part about that sentence is that I originally wrote "figs" where cheese resides. Then I changed it. So basically I believe that Figs and Cheese are some of the most amazing foods on the planet. And now they are together! Fig flavored cheese! It is creamy and sharp like any chevre, but it has the sweetness of the fig and just a touch of rosemary. They did an amazing job in this cheese, especially because the rosemary hasn't taken over. It is such a demanding herb, like garlic, it is very good at taking over the dish and not allowing other flavors to have their share.

So the digression has come full circle, I get to eat Rosemary Fig Cheese on delicious hot bread. While that digression was coming around to dinner, the timer beeped and now my bread is cooling on the rack. In just a few minutes I'll be able to slice into it without burning my fingers!

Dinner!

Of course I opened a bottle of wine... I'm watching a movie (for the second time) about french food... duh.

On that note, it is DINNER TIME! I hope you all enjoy yours as much as I do mine :)

Head First

This blog post is supposed to be happy and upbeat, but the pod is currently playing an incredibly sentimental song... Makes me want to curl up on the couch and continue reading my favorite book. I picked it up on Friday and couldn't be happier, something about it is so comforting even though it contains a LOT of violence.

 

Whew... Now that that is over I can move on and tell you all about the REVOLUTION I have dived (diven... dove?) into full force. Yes I know I am always starting new things and you rarely get updates on progress, but I promise, I will finish a scarf and my herb garden eventually. But back to this week's revolution. It began with My Friend Pinterest, no suprise there. It is mainly taking place in my bathroom (oh aren't tiy excited?) I am now starting to practice Green Beauty/Grooming techniques! My two initial expiraments are No Shampoo/Conditioner and No Facewash. I decided to go this route after running out of shampoo and being too lazy to drive the 4mi into town to buy more. My Friend Pinterest and I went on a search and found an article on homemade face wash and that led me to my new favorite blog!

Crunchy Betty!!

www.CrunchyBetty.com

(I tried to get one of her cute little buttons, but being a baby blogger I still haven't figured out blogsy... mabye I should blog more)

She has so many great Ideas! Who knew that green beauty could be so easy and cheap! I am on day 4 of my, what Betty calls No 'Poo, transition and so far so good. A lot of the comments talked about their hair getting really greasy near the scalp and very dry on the ends, so much so that they had to hide their hair and brushes until they figured it out. I haven't had these problems yet, and I'm hoping that I don't! My theory is that because I spend so much time sweating at work/play/home (pure laziness) that my scalp is used to rolling in its own... I mean, producing its own oils. We shall see! Also, I have been using her suggested face oiling technique. Somewhere, someone learned in chemistry that like dissolves like. It wasn't me, I am a chemistry virgin, but I'll accept it because it sounds pretty logical. The first night I used this technique I fell in love. My skin is so soft and I've barely needed any moisturizer, once I finish tweeking my specific oil solution I probably won't need it at all! In the mornings I have been using a mixture of oats and almonds as a scrub, tomorrow I'm going to mix in some honey and see how that turns out. Either way my skin has been soft and glowy all week.

This is what my entire regimen now consists of

So awesome! I will have to be careful what I leave out though. I found that out the hard way this morning. I had just finished mixing up some honey and sunflower oil moisturizer, walked out of the room to grab coffee, when I walked back in PIG was helping herself to my yummy face food... The freaking cat won't eat tuna fish but she'll eat honey and oil??? Seriously, my cat is broken.

I am seriously enjoying the renovations I am performing on my life. I can't wait to see what else 2012 has in store! Hopefully some more yummies for my face and for my tummy! I have another blog that I have recently started reading a lot.

www.ChocolateCoveredKatie.com

Her vegan, healthy desserts and foods are so amazing. I'm slowly gathering more and more ingredients to healthify my baking. No worries, there will still be desserts made with real butter and cream, just not all of them... it would defeat the purpose of the Insanity I have been partaking in! Yes, still making me sweat that much!

 

Later this week my lovely sister and mommy come into town. Hopefully our antics will provide some good stories for you all!

Good night for now

 

 

Lack of blogging...

Ok so I'm apparently a terrible blogger... However I also haven't been knitting, so maybe that is why...

Ya sure... We'll go with that

 

Well I'm sitting here on the couch on my 4th day of spring break (yes as a grown adult I still got one this year) thinking that I should definitely blog more so I can put more things on my Pinterest boards... So here I am blogging! I'm not even certain what all has happened since the last time I blogged... But I do know what has been going on in my life and my oven!

Friday I started Insanity!! Yes, that Insanity. The one you see the infomercial about with the ridiculously sweaty ripped people... So far I can definitely say: 1. Yes you do sweat that much 2. Ouch! 3. You need a foam roller, ice, and ibu to make it through the first week!





Here are a couple things I have made recently:

Italian sausage and kale pasta!

NY style crumb cake

Tilapia w/hot beat, rice, and greens salad

Lemon brownies

Made a super happy wine rack!

I accidentally deleted some pictures from my phone before they uploaded so I lost some stuff, but luckily my friend Pinterest Keeps track of things for me... Check out my super awesome board (they're all awesome, but this one especially)

http://pinterest.com/MillieATC/i-did-it/

I am adding 2 new pins to that board tomorrow, though they will be slightly different. I'm making the chocolate magic cake but I'm changing it so it's vegan (no particular reason beyond expiramentation). And I'm also skipping their frosting in order to try the avocado chocolate frosting, I got 4 overly ripe avocados at the store today for $1.50! Gotta love those day old specials! Pictures and coworker comments to come... Shhh! They don't know I'm changing the recipes!

Ok so I think that is enough for now. However, I do promise to seriously try to blog more often... All 3 of my subscribers are probably very excited! Atleast I can claim that I'm talking to the whole world and not just myself!



Goodnight!