Lazy Weekend and Sleeping Beauty

I had another low-key weekend, but it was nice.  I've been rubbish with this blog lately, and I thought about posting Thursday night after my class and then Friday when I wasn't doing anything.  But I just didn't.  Friday night, Zach had a guys night, and other than brushing the kitties, my butt stayed on the couch allllll night!  I wasted time on Pinterest and watching Extreme Couponing.  Oh, I lied...I did get off the couch when I made popcorn for dinner.  ;)

*I tell Zach about my night when he gets home*

ZACH:  How domestic of you!

ME:  What's so domestic about sitting on the couch all night?

Cue laughter.

Saturday was a bit more happening.  I was supposed to meet Katie for breakfast/brunch then lunch then lunch/snack time.  She had to bring Tommy up for a conference and was bringing Ella Kate along with her.  That meant I finally got to meet Miss EK, who is now two months old!

If you know Katie, you know she is the latest person in the world.  (Hey!  She admits it.)  So I can only imagine how late it must be now that she has a baby.  ;)  But I was just glad to see them for a little bit.  Zach and I ended up eating McNuggets for lunch and had what we fondly call a DipFest.

(I hate myself.)

So I just planned to have a snack when I got to meet up with the (Ella) Katies.  We met at Briar Rose, Katie had lunch, I had dessert, and Miss Ella Kate napped and got photographed by moi.  :)

She is absolutely beautiful with the loveliest eyelashes and lips.  Ella Kate also has such a funny little personality (at least, the little bit I saw when she woke as they were leaving).  I told her all babies have this reaction to me (see tri-photo collage above).  :)

After visiting with them, I stopped by Target and got some Cheez Its on clearance!  Then I picked up a shirt on clearance with a $10 off coupon at Kohl's and popped into Sam's and got gas.

For dinner, I made Eggs Florentine, and it was sooo good!  I made my Hollandaise sauce too soon, and my butter had cooled, so it wasn't quite right.  Still yummy though.

Today, we lazed about for just about all of the day.  I did pop down to Harp's to pick up some blueberry muffins and a paper this morning.  For lunch, I thawed some bolognese and planned our meals for the week.  I was so proud of the haul I got at the grocery store tonight!  I spent just over $21 for 2 family-sized boxes of Cap'n Crunch, 2 boxes of Honey Grahams, 1 jar of pickles, 1 box of Texas Toast, 2 boxes of scalloped potatoes, 1 Cool Whip, 1 4-pack of Greek yogurt, and 1 box of cheesecake pudding.  (I volunteered for office snack time this week.)

Looks like that Extreme Couponing is rubbing off...

How did your weekend stack up?

Sensory Overload: The Surgical Mask

Another week has already come and gone.  Classes start in A WEEK.  How did that happen?  My syllabus is practically done, but I need to start fleshing out some lesson plans.  Next week, faculty are back on contract, so it will be busy, busy, busy for me again.  OH my.

I faded this photo because it gave it an appropriate feeling.  Plus, it makes me not look quite as gnarly as I do.

1)  WHAT I'M FEELING:  sick.  Over last weekend, as you may recall, I started feeling icky.  I thought it was my allergies since I had taken Dinah to the vet on Friday and then Hobie on Monday, but I felt achy and my lymph nodes were swollen.  Finally, on Wednesday, I decided to go to the doctor to see what was going on.  I had them test for strep because it had been going around our office, but the in-house test was negative.  The doctor thought I had thrush since I did have white patches on my tongue and throat, so he prescribed a mouthwash.  If you have kids, you have probably heard of thrush--usually, only babies and older folks get this yeast infection.  But I have a compromised immune system, which means I can be prone to it, too...so it made sense.  I also had a dermatology appointment that afternoon, so I got started on lots of things to clear up my skin.  Crazy things like pills that reduce my sweating and a $50 tube of facial cream.  Fun times.  Then today, the doctor's office called again and told me that the throat culture they sent off is positive for strep.  Joy, joy.  As soon as I found out, I pulled out a surgical mask from my purse, put it on, and then went home to finish up the work day.  And got mad because we paid $10 for the thrush mouthwash, and now I don't need it.  *lol*

I'm also bummed because I'm having to miss Zach's Momo's 93rd birthday this weekend.  I already volunteered to stay home with the cats (who are continuing to misbehave and have tummy issues), so Zach could go.  And now that I have strep, I couldn't have gone anyway.  But.  It STINKS.

2)  WHAT I'M TASTING:  Cheez-Its, lots of Earl Grey, cough drops.  I've been using cough drops and drinking lots of tea to ease my scratchy my throat.  It hasn't been too sore--probably because I got my tonsils taken out 11 years ago; I actually haven't had strep since then.  My appetite has been off the past few days, and the antibiotic that the dermatologist put me on has been making me nauseated, so I have enjoyed potato chips and Cheez-Its the past few mornings.  (I always crave salt when I'm nauseated.  Also--I get so confused over which is correct--nauseous and nauseated and nauseating!)  It's been so long that I'm tearing those Cheez-Its up!

3)  WHAT I'M HEARING:  lots and lots of rain.  This is so unusual for August!  I've also been turning on Dr. Who a bit and finishing up The Secret Life of the American Teenager because I love trashy, campy TV when I'm playing on the Internet.  *lol*  And I started watching this documentary on texting and driving.  It is breaking my heart...

4)  WHAT I'M SMELLING:  not much of anything except for urine.  We're still working on the cats.  YUCK.

5)  WHAT I'M SEEING:  Well, obviously, the shows I'm vegging out to.  But we've been watching our cats like hawks this week.  Oh, and I was paying close attention to my inbox today after I sent out emails to prospective students for our mentor program.  I've already gotten 14 students to commit, 12 from today alone!

And now I'm going to bed.  How do you recover from an illness?

Leibster Award--My FIRST Award!

THANKS, CARRIE, FOR NOMINATING ME!  (It's the first time I've ever been nominated for anything.  :)

1. If you could invite any 5 people (living or dead, real or fictional) to do something, who would it be? And what would you do?

I would invite the poet T. S. Eliot (I wrote my undergrad thesis on The Waste Land), style icon/actress/humanitarian Audrey Hepburn, my favorite Beatle George Harrison, Raziela "Razi" Nolan from The Mercy of Thin Air (my favorite book), and Harry's best friend Ronald "Ron" Bilius Weasley.

2. Coffee or tea? Or neither?

sweet tea, no ice (unless it's just been made and is hot)

3. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, it would be ...

Cheez-Its

4. A bad habit you have ...

When I yawn, I turn it into this long, drawn-out "AHHHHHHH..."

5. A good habit you have ...

If you are on my side/my team/my friend/my relative/whatever, I am extremely loyal.

6. You can't resist ...

Ben and Jerry's Dublin Mudslide ice cream (or, as I once called it, Mudlin Dubslide)...or cream on my snow cones

7. If you could go back in time and tell your younger self one thing, it would be ...

you need to read more, Ashley!  Don't waste so much time on AOL...

8. Something that made you happy today was ...
having a yummy lunch and dessert and talking for four hours with a friend at the cutest little cottage bakery

9. One book you haven't read but have always wanted to is ...

Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

(I'm reading The Hobbit for the first time now.  :)

10.You have $50 to spend on yourself. What would you do/buy?

I would probably go to Target and buy some cardigans and dresses and random stuff.  I love Target! (In fact, I LOVE it so much that it was the first place I visited after being released from the hospital in December--I also had to finish up Christmas shopping since it was the Friday before Christmas.  Here I am in all of my motorized-cart-and-surgical-mask glory!  I was smiling under that mask, but you can't tell.  *lol*)

NOMINEES -- TAG!  YOU'RE IT!  Answer the questions below; then dream up your own question set and tag how many bloggers you wish. :)


1.  Craft | Cook | Create
2.  From L.A. to LA
3.  In Passionate Pursuit

4.  Life After . . .

5.  The Sandefur Family

I hope you can all participate!

QUESTIONS

1.  What did you do on/for your last birthday?

2.  What Olympic sports do you like to watch?

3.  Do you have any special routines before bed?  What are they?

4.  Are you more of a caramel-choolate person or a mint-chocolate one?

5.  Describe (and/or share ;) the most FUN/SILLY embarrassing picture (not truly embarrassing) you have posted/had posted of yourself on a social media website.

6.  Who did you have a crush on when you were ten?

7.  Do you have any surprising hobbies or talents?

8.  How many states have you visited?

9.  What is the best joke you've heard lately?

How much does a hipster weigh?

An INSTAGRAM!  

(And, y'all, I love me so Instagram, so I am probably sorta hipstery, so don't be offended!) 

Menu Monday: POTATO-LEEK SOUP

I have decided to try a new vegetable every week in an effort to get healthier (and hopefully break my dependence on Cheez-It's). Veggies, you say? Aren't you, a person recovering from Crohn's Disease and colon surgery (initially, I typed "sugary," which is true, too *lol*), supposed to stay away from veggies? Well, to hell with that. Vegetables are good for us; they are not bad for us. Disease is bad for us, and you know why? Because Satan is the author of disease. God promised me the food of every seed-bearing plant and every tree that has fruit with seed in it (Genesis 1:29), so, by golly, I'm going to have them as food because He keeps his promises. I am, however, starting off with cooked veggies...though I did try a bite of raw carrot with this recipe. I'm a rebel. (It didn't cause me any issues. I also had pineapple on my pizza. And, yes, I had pizza. ;)

I tried doing this little project last fall...or summer, maybe? But obviously it did not last. I remember I tried beets...and some other things. I honestly only remember the beets...and now lima beans because I went to my blog to see. I included fruits, too. Maybe I should include fruits again because I know there are some I haven't tried. I think in the summer I had blueberries as a "new" fruit, not because I had never had them but because I never liked them previously unless they were in muffins. (I made Ben and Jerry's blueberry ice cream recipe, so I guess that doesn't count as trying to be healthy. *haha* BUT the fresh blueberries were so tasty in it. I can't wait for the Farmer's Market this year!)

Anyway, I've technically had this veggie before, but I LOVED it and haven't had it in almost a year.

What is this you ask?

Since I'm still "sick" and it's winter, I thought, POTATO-LEEK SOUP would be perfect to make! After all, the leeks are cooked and potatoes (and carrots) are easy on the stomach. The picture above was taken at ICASI in Cleveland last March when we visited Holly (and the culinary school at which she works). Every Saturday the students prepare several courses and serve them; it was AMAZING, and this soup was one of my favorites. Now it was a creamier POTATO-LEEK SOUP than the one I'm sharing, but the flavors were still amazing (and you didn't have to worry about blending it together). This recipe also calls for quite a bit of onion, but I haven't noticed it giving me any issues either (as long as it is cooked...and I love onion! I can't give it up.).

POTATO-LEEK SOUP

-Wash and dice two leeks (the white part only...though I cut it below the green leaves and diced away so some light green snuck in. I wish I had taken a picture of the leeks. Zach couldn't find them at the store, but, when we went back, I found them right away--and I've never seen one! ;).

-Peel and dice a medium onion. (Do you wash your onions? I just realized I never do. I think I read somewhere that water is bad for them?)

-Melt four tablespoons of butter in a large soup pot or Dutch oven, add leeks and onion, and sauté until tender for 5 to 7 minutes.

-Add three and 1/4 cups of chicken stock or broth to the pot. Because we're poor (or cheap), we use a chicken base from Sam's and mix up some water with it. I would, however, like to start making my own stocks because they offer some great health benefits. (That's why we eat chicken soup when we are sick!)

-Peel, wash, and dice four carrots and add them to the pot..

-Peel, wash, and dice three large potatoes (or, in my case, five small to medium potatoes) and add them to the pot.

-Add 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of thyme, and 1 bay leaf to the pot.

-You may need to add a bit more stock or add some water to cover all the veggies. Heat to boiling, then cover and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes. Be sure to remove the bay leaf before serving!

Voila! You have easily made POTATO-LEEK SOUP! I prefer to eat my soup with hot bread most of the time, but, as I was trying to get dinner to my semicolon, I just had a few saltines, my go-to soup cracker. This was just delicious, and the seasonings were just perfect in it. Thyme has become one of my favorites to use, and I am so happy we finally got some bay leaves because I have been using them a lot lately. I think adding some kind of protein (probably chicken since chicken stock is used) would take this soup over the top.

I can't wait to share my veggie for next week. I hope I like it because I never have before...!

things I'm loving this week

learning all about the English and their interesting habits and social rules...and realizing my personality is more English than not :)

using the Wilton kit I got for Christmas to make Valentine's Day cupcake decorations on our first snow day of February (and this week)

Bob's Red Mill Muesli and all other breakfast foods any time of the day

our fireplace and the sexy man who gets it hot *hahahahaha*

how this book haunts me

thinking about memories of BHS and UCA and of everything I would tell my 16-year-old, 18-year-old, 21-year-old self, especially that it will all be okay and work out...which in turn comforts me now when thinking about the future

the guiltiest of guilty pleasures

(It's only fitting this would be the largest picture. It's SOOO over-the-top.)

all of the memories of (especially of all the Easters I spent with her) my sweet Granny Byrd

hunting for the new perfect pair of rain boots since my old pair inexplicably split

(I am very picky. I don't like when the patterns stretch at the bottom on the bridge of the shoe. I'm thinking I'm old enough to go for solid pair in black or red.)

****************a snow week****************

(Oh, and we are supposed to get another 5 to 9 inches on Wednesday!!)

measuring the snowfalls according to where it falls on these chicks

finding my niece on facebook (and using my fine detective skills to do so *lol*)

this fuzzy face and his yawns and his naps and his daddy-o

a simple table wine that tastes mighty fine in my roast beef

making a new flavor of homemade ice cream every week in my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker that matches my kitchen

This weeks was strawberry.

Cheez-It's, including the flavor I tried for the first time today

(It will probably be gone in three days. ;)