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By Emily No, you haven’t lost your mind. Our family is down to one computer, and I was hoping to have mine fixed by now. Unfortunately, laptops are not too fond of mac & beef, so repair has been agonizingly slow. And when I only have a few minutes in an uncomfy chair right before bedtime, expounding upon the subject at hand is easily delayed/dismissed. I’m backdating the entries for the days they *should* have been published. Thanks for joining my time-travel team <3
I’m making a list of all the things I want to plant this year. And researching methods of automatic watering so the whole thing won’t get krispy before the end of the season.
Oh wait. I can’t do anything expensive or permanent. Crap. RETHINK!!!
And also? FOCUS!!! The list!!!
Carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes (mostly paste), beans (glorious beans), lettuces (Earthbox #1), garlic, corn, watermelon, canteloupe, beets, potatoes, radish, cilantro (maybe?), sugarsnaps, onions, and honestly. Who knows what else will tickle my fancy between now and then?
Resolved: container gardening is fun, but not all that successful for me. I’ll be turning the earthboxes into herb boxes and I’m not sure WHAT I’ll do with all the buckets and bins.
By Emily No, you haven’t lost your mind. Our family is down to one computer, and I was hoping to have mine fixed by now. Unfortunately, laptops are not too fond of mac & beef, so repair has been agonizingly slow. And when I only have a few minutes in an uncomfy chair right before bedtime, expounding upon the subject at hand is easily delayed/dismissed. I’m backdating the entries for the days they *should* have been published. Thanks for joining my time-travel team <3
One of my co-workers was on vacation this week. My “day off” was spent keeping appointments and running errands. As you can imagine, there was no time for research OR cooking of a Good Luck meal.
Somehow I think I’ll be OK. And next week is Chinese New Years!!!!! Think of all the luck there!
By Emily No, you haven’t lost your mind. Our family is down to one computer, and I was hoping to have mine fixed by now. Unfortunately, laptops are not too fond of mac & beef, so repair has been agonizingly slow. And when I only have a few minutes in an uncomfy chair right before bedtime, expounding upon the subject at hand is easily delayed/dismissed. I’m backdating the entries for the days they *should* have been published. Thanks for joining my time-travel team <3
So how am I doing, two weeks after I set myself up?
Resolution: Get Healthy. Goals: Diet and exercise
I’m still fighting the urge to eat potato chips and cottage cheese for breakfast, but not all that often. These days I’m fighting the urge for crunchy food with a small handful of mixed nuts. And I’ve pinpointed “eating more veggies” as a designated target while my body adjusts.
I’m not working out every day, but I’m making a conscious effort to move more than I was. The scale has moved a bit, but it’s too early to tell if it was water weight.
Resolution: Budget. Goals: Develop side business, track spending
I’ve already totally blown the “keep track of money” part. I’ll try to pick it up again at the next payday.
My work on the side business has dealt mostly with focus. Am I going to design? host? code? troubleshoot? (Most likely? Troubleshoot.) How much do I charge?(believe it or not, that *has* been a problem in the past)
30 day challenge resolution: Uncluttering
Not going according to schedule. At all. After pondering on my “moderate failure” post from Friday, I had a realization.
I’m ready to let go of these things, but I’m not necessarily ready for what (if anything) is going to replace them. And to be completely honest, I’ll probably need some time and help processing that little tidbit.
And that’s all the news that’s fit to print right now about my resolutions.
By Emily No, you haven’t lost your mind. Our family is down to one computer, and I was hoping to have mine fixed by now. Unfortunately, laptops are not too fond of mac & beef, so repair has been agonizingly slow. And when I only have a few minutes in an uncomfy chair right before bedtime, expounding upon the subject at hand is easily delayed/dismissed. I’m backdating the entries for the days they *should* have been published. Thanks for joining my time-travel team <3
I haven’t touched a single book on the bookshelf. Yes, I could make a really good case for myself, but I’m not going to. There ARE times when I could have taken 15 minutes and spent it on one shelf. I really wanted to be done with the whole thing by today.
But I’m driving myself slightly crazy. Here’s how the logic circuit/blowout works:
I should take the books off the shelf and put them in the box.
If I put them in the box, the box will be on the floor until I have the time/opportunity to go to the used bookstore.
I don’t want to make a special trip to the used bookstore for each and every box. The used bookstore is JUST far enough for it to truly be “a special trip” – it’s in the opposite direction of everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) else. There is no “combining trips to save gas”.
And, of course, there’s the possibility that the used bookstore will want one or two out of the entire box, thereby adding on to the special trip (because once the books leave, they are NOT coming back).
If I put the books in a box on the floor, the livingroom will look even MORE cluttery than it already does.
Leave the books on the shelf, and go do laundry. There’s always PLENTY of laundry.
[end]
I know. You wanna sign up to be my bestest friend rightthissecond!
The “good” news is that I really, legitimately have other housework to do. The bad news is that I keep on doing it and not “finding” time to take care of the bookshelves.
The time I spent writing this post? Coulda been spent on a shelf.
I don’t quite know how I’m going to get there…
By Emily No, you haven’t lost your mind. Our family is down to one computer, and I was hoping to have mine fixed by now. Unfortunately, laptops are not too fond of mac & beef, so repair has been agonizingly slow. And when I only have a few minutes in an uncomfy chair right before bedtime, expounding upon the subject at hand is easily delayed/dismissed. I’m backdating the entries for the days they *should* have been published. Thanks for joining my time-travel team!
Lentils, oh how I love them. Small, simple, yet a nutritional powerhouse.
And inexpensive.
And tasty.
When I’m recovering from (whatever), lentils are the first thing I look for as comfort food. And after trying this recipe, I can understand why Esau sold his birthright for them.
Like the Southern New Year’s dinner, the lentils are supposed to remind you of coins. The sausages are for “plenty”.
2 C dried brown lentils (picked over, of course)
2 bay leaves
1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, smashed
2 celery stalks with leaves, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
6 Italian-style sweet pork sausages
Put the lentils in a pot with the bay leaves and cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes. Skim off any foam that forms at the top. Turn off the heat, then drain the lentils and set them aside, reserving their liquid.
In a large skillet warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and sauté over low heat until it is nicely colored but not brown. Add the celery, carrot, and onion and sauté over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until softened.
Stir in the drained lentils. Dilute the tomato paste in a few tablespoons of some of the lentil cooking liquid and stir it into the onion/carrot/celery.
Add enough of the lentil cooking liquid to cover by about an inch. Simmer until the lentils are tender but not mushy, adding more of the lentil cooking liquid as necessary to keep the lentils moist.
When the lentils are cooked, take out the bay leaves and turn off the heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and let stand while you cook the sausages.
Looks good, doesn’t it?
Ordinarily this would be the part where a bowl full of steaming deliciousness gets placed. Unfortunately, I was too busy eating it to take a picture. The next time I make it (next week, probably), I’ll post one. Until next time!
By Emily I have a problem. I quite willingly admit that I have a really superhard time letting go of some things.
No, really.
The Hungry Caterpillar (age appropriate for preschoolers) is still on the kids’ bookshelf. As are all the Dr. Seuss books. Two shelves of mostly age-inappropriate books.
Boxes and boxes of…misc stuff… that Mama left are in my bathroom closet.
Boxes of books that Mama left are in my living room.
There is a non-functioning REFRIGERATOR in my livingroom. (If I were a REAL redneck, that thang would be out on the front porch!)
There is a broken, out of tune, rarely-played (because of said broken and out-of-tunedness) piano by my front door.
My Daddy’s suits are still hanging in my closet.
Yeaaaaaaah. And? We’re moving this year. Sometime.
So, in addition to “get healthy” and “MONEY!!!!”, I’m adding “get ready to move house” to the list.
What needs to be done:
Books: sell/trash/donate
Photos: scan and toss
Mama’s stuff: to the barn!!!!!
I’ll be posting as regularly as I usually do (heh) in an effort to be somewhat accountable.
By Emily psst. Pretend like this posted yesterday. I’ll pretend like I hit “publish” instead of “save draft”. mkay?
While I was cooking my New Year’s Dinner of collards and blackeyed peas, I wondered about other “good luck dinners” being served at the same time.
And let’s face it – I need all the luck I can get.
So an idea was born. I’m going to cook and eat and share a whole lot of “good luck meals” with y’all.
Hopefully, it’ll work!
By Emily If I set goals and made resolutions for 2011, I certainly didn’t blog about them. SO! New year, new stuff.
Resolution: Get healthy
My diet is slowly improving, and (y’all can tell) I’m cooking more. But I need to do more. Therefore:
Goal: exercise more. There for the longest time I made the excuse that I’m getting enough exercise at work. Yes, I’m moving a lot at work, but it’s not enough. I have an exercise bike, hand weights, and children to chase.
Goal: Be more in control of my diet.
I’m sure it doesn’t help that I work in a grocery store. Positive, actually. But I bring a lunch to work and then decide I don’t want it. Or skip packing a lunch at all and end up buying a bag of chips, a candy bar, a soda, and fried chicken. Or a corndog. Or chicken salad.
Time to change that.
Resolution: Budget.
There’s no way I could’ve planned for all the financial chaos that ensued in 2011. And to be completely honest, I don’t know that I could’ve saved enough money to handle everything. Therefore:
Goal: Develop a side business. I’m not making enough money. That needs to change.
Goal: Track spending. I need to know where what little bit of money I’ve got is going. It’s not enough to check the bank account to see if I’ve got it before I spend.
I think that’s enough for now, don’t you? We’ll have a periodic check-in on what’s happening.
By Emily 
Collard greens. Black eyed peas. Cornbread. Bits of ham.
Dollar bills. Silver coins. Gold. Luck.
After the year I had, there was absolutely no way I was going to skip out on the traditional meal. The recipe post is here.
This year I had ham, so I chopped it up instead of the bacon. And I cooked the collards with a smoked turkey wing.
And I didn’t add the carrot slices (but after looking at the final picture from 2010, OH HOW I WISH I DID).
But other than that, everything else was the same.
LOL!
Here’s to Good Luck and Prosperity in 2012.
By Emily And I’m glad to see 2011 close. I joked on Google+ that this year was produced by Hoover and Electrolux in a joint effort to make my year suck. I went back and checked the archives to see if I made my Collard & Black Eyed Pea soup since I don’t really remember. And of course, there’s only one post from January…toward the end of the month.
I’ve thought long and hard about whether or not to do a recap of the year and I’ll be honest…the thought of remembering ALL of that stuff is simply not on my to-do list today. It was stressful, and it’s over.
It was wonderful, and it’s over.
I’m grateful to you for sticking with me through all of this.
I’m PROFOUNDLY grateful for your support.
Here’s to 2012 being a better year for all of us.
<3
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