Last night I achieved what I thought was only possible in my wildest dreams. I conquered this Real Simple recipe. I am a bona fide noodle fiend, so when I saw a salmon lo mein recipe in the January 2015 issue of the magazine, I knew it would be mine. I have never successfully made my own Asian food, unless it’s a starter kit out of the frozen section and let’s face it, that is not what we’d call cooking. Usually, it ends up being overcooked stir fry, which is not my favorite by any stretch, or it’s a sad, bland substitute of the real thing and I immediately wish I had conned Hubs into ordering takeaway instead.
Happy Snowy Birthday to Me
The morning of my birthday I woke up to swirling clouds of tiny white flakes against the soft yellow glow of the street light across our street. It was beautiful. I now know where the cliched image of blanketed with new fallen snow comes from and it is as peaceful as it sounds. I also now know what it looks like snow up. That’s right folks, Mama got a blizzard for her birthday. Continue reading
My Blue Heaven – aka My Office Makeover Reveal
Do you ever have that moment when you finally do something you’ve been meaning to do for a long time, then wonder what in the heck took you so long to get around to doing it? Why did I wait so long to redo my office?!? It’s been almost two weeks and I have nothing but love for my new office space. My whole attitude toward being in this space has changed since the redo, as evidenced by the fact that I am actually writing in it rather than lugging my laptop upstairs so I can avoid it. Continue reading
Death to the Peachy-Brown Wall!
I finally got the chance to paint a wall and I am so excited I can’t stand it! The holidays afforded me not only the funds to redo my office/craft room, but also the time to actually do it. I honestly don’t know which is more valuable or rare. As I’ve mentioned before, I love a good project and right now this is the mother of all projects. I descended on the paint department in Lowes like a hawk at a prairie dog convention.
New Year, new…office?!
There are few things I love more than a good project and I actually go through withdrawal if I don’t have something to adjust or redo at least every six months. Aside from moving into our house last year and getting our landscaping shaped up, we haven’t really done anything to the inside of our house. The basement room we use as our shared office and my craft room is the most unwelcoming shade of peachy-brown I have ever seen. It’s like stepping into James’ giant peach and seeing that as we all aged, so did the peach. It’s pit becoming a random catch all with no form or function. In short, it’s become our junk room.
Gingerbread Dreams
Last week I had the most ridiculous 1950s fantasy holiday moment ever. I am not even joking. Santa himself could have shown up and I would have told him that I’m all set this year. I decided to be insane and make my mom’s gingerbread houses this year, all five of them of course, with some cookies because, well, COOKIES.
Miss O and her dad were decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music. Miss O is now obsessed with Frosty the Snowman and must hear at least two versions every day. Her little voice was belting it out while she hung every ornament on the tree on the same branch. Hubs dutifully answered each time she held one up and asked “Who is that?” I let her help me cut out some cookies and she had the biggest smile. So did I. I know it was darling because I felt it. Mission accomplished! Almost.
How Cyber-Monday Scoffs at my American Dream
Cyber Monday is one of those things that smacks me firmly in the face and shouts, “You are so close!” every year. Having just checked out of an emotional visit with family and a sobering look at what the holidays really can do to people with or without family to visit, (way more on that in another post), we attempt to return to our every day lives ushered on by a tsunami of email and ads promising huge savings coupled with the thrill of convenience. In the past, I have basically finished my holiday shopping by now and that was even before the advent of cyber-anything. I have seriously scored some pretty great deals on previous clicking sprees. Now it only serves to remind me what I don’t have and taunts me mercilessly as a missed opportunity.
I need a tissue for my feelings.
“I need a tissue for my feelings.” These are the words my almost two and half year-old daughter sniffed as she struggled to stop crying one night. Hubs and I can’t remember what the cause of her tears was, probably because our hearts were so busy melting our brains were focused on keeping us together enough to grant her simple request. My heart broke for my daughter, not only because of the words she used, but because of the weight of her acknowledgement that she has feelings and knows she must manage them. Somehow the depth of that statement coming from her little voice was more than I could handle.
5 Reasons Why Not Having Sex with Your Partner Every Night is Perfectly OK
I’m late to the party on this one, but by now I’m sure most of you have seen an article going around Facebook lately called 5 Reasons You Should Have Sex With Your Husband Every Night. I really didn’t think anyone needed a whole piece written to justify sex with a spouse, but apparently there’s a significant lack of subject matter on this topic. I caved after seeing how many of my friends shared it and ignored my previously sound judgment of assuming this was another ridiculous attempt to woo people into reading some tripe about being the perfect wife.
Shifting Perspectives to Win the Suburban Jackpot
It’s funny how a name can shape your perspective of the world around you. As I experiment with sharing my life, I have already shifted my perspective of what stories to tell and how to tell them. I’ve survived the anxiety of sending my words into the great beyond hoping for a sign that someone found them entertaining or helpful. (That is truly terrifying, by the way.) I have decided instead to stay true to my original intention of easing my own mind through sharing what I need to share, rather than crafting things that should be shared. In other words, write what you know. Be who you are.
