It's happening

Simple and Tasty Homemade Iced Tea Recipes

So here is my latest Yahoo! article, just in time for summer's slightly belated arrival. Simple, healthful  homemade iced tea; is there anything better?!?

These recipes are easily customizable to your personal tastes and preferences. Use whatever sweeteners you prefer (or none at all). Add fresh fruits, berries, or herbs for an added kick. Throw it in an old school mason jar with a lemon wedge and serve on a super cute retro serving dish for added Hostess With The Most-est brownie points.

There are no rules, so get creative and enjoy!

Labor Day, Anne Taintor, and Housewifery

Hey hey! I hope everyone had a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

Ours was very low-key, which was nice. Saturday we lounged around all morning, and then in the afternoon I went grocery shopping and ran a few errands. Sunday I spent the late morning cleaning, and the afternoon getting some work done on my laptop. And yesterday, we lounged around in the morning, took the kids swimming in the afternoon, and then had a super yummy roast for dinner with all the trimmings! Great closeout to a relaxing weekend!

Today, of course, is back to reality. Kids are off to school, The Husband is at work, and I'm here getting all my housewifery done.

(It's a word, I promise)

First up, I have to deal with our rental office. For the record, while I don't have a lot of experience in apartment living, I can attest to the fact that this particular rental management company is... well, terrible.

Unprofessional.

Disorganized.

Lousy at communicating.

And I have to call and deal with them today because something is wonky with our account. Lucky me. I absolutely cannot wait until our house is done!!! I will not miss this place at all!

After that, my day is pretty normal. Laundry, mopping, a bit of trashy reality television. Good stuff.

Props to Anne Taintor for infusing 1950s charm with modern day biting sarcasm!

My kind of girl.

You're doing it wrong

So in my last post I mentioned how I was making roasted chicken and veggies in the crock pot, and I just wanted to say... HOLY CRAP WAS IT DELICIOUS!!!!!

Super yummy.

The recipe calls for chicken thighs because they stay tender throughout the long cooking time, but since they make me gag I went for chicken breasts instead. I was worried they would dry out or something, but nope! Tender, juicy, yummy, all around awesomeness. I've also never cooked with pearl onions before, and I really liked them. They added a good flavor without being too overpowering. That one is definitely going in my usual rotation!

Tonight I'm making chicken and black bean fajitas. I don't really have a specific recipe for it, I'm just kinda winging it. Combining a little bit of this one with a little bit of that one- hopefully it turns out well.

I have extra chicken breasts from the crock pot meal (I bought too many) and I need to do something with them before they spoil, and fajitas are delicious, so why not?!?

Plus, I'm trying to make healthier meals, since with the whole moving brouhaha our eating habits certainly took a hit. Time to get back on track!

So this week has been a busy one for me. We finally have an address for the lot we are building on, which not only makes it seem a little more real, but it also allowed me to finally be able to register the kids for school.

It's been stressing me out, because school starts earlier here than back in Washington, so there was added pressure to get them registered and start the back to school shopping and all that jazz. Plus, having them in school was a major component in starting to feel more settled here. Even though our living situation is in a state of limbo until the house in finished, having the kids' school situated is evidence that we are here to stay, that this is our home now.

It's a good feeling.

I had some errands to run up in Cheyenne yesterday, so I got a chance to swing by our property and check out the progress on the house.

*drumroll please*

We have the beginnings of the basement and the foundation! Whoohoo!

There is a giant hole, several huge dirt piles, a rebar pile, and the beginning framing of the foundation with the first layer of concrete poured.

So, you know, no where near done, but progress nonetheless.

Okay, so now on to the real reason for this post. Music.

I've realized that I was pretty spoiled back in Seattle when it came to radio stations to listen to. I discussed my musical tastes and radio station preferences awhile back, and how between the four stations I was able to satisfy all my musical tastes.

Suffice it to say that I am not so lucky down here.

So far I have only found one, yes ONE, rock station. Tons of country, tons of Christian, a few Spanish stations, and a few pop stations that seem to combine anything from 1995 on- R&B, boy bands, hip hop, girl groups, etc- into a "new music" station.

But their crappy tastes in pop music don't concern me, as I don't listen to it.

What concerns me is what seems to constitute "classic rock" in northern Colorado.

While, yes, they play plenty of good stuff- Ozzy, Metallica, Zeppelin, The Who, all the ones you'd expect (and actually a few that I've not heard before, which is cool)- they also throw in random bands too. And therein lies the issue.

Because Stone Temple Pilots? Alice in Chains? Green Day? Nirvana? I love them all...

BUT THEY ARE NOT CLASSIC ROCK!!!!!

Apparently the division between classic rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock does not exist here.

And it's killing me.

Every time I hear Man In The Box, Basketcase, Creep, or Come As You Are, I just shake my head and think "You're doing it wrong!!!"

Come on Denver, don't let me down.

You need to add two more radio stations to your repertoire: alt rock, and metal.

Because they're different than classic rock.

Still awesome.

Just different.

Culinary creativity

So lately... as in the past several months... I've been in somewhat of a cooking rut.

Like, big time.

Between the kids' school schedule, my school demands, and the daily comings and goings of life in general, creative cooking gave way to old favorites. Same ol' same ol'. Yummy, but boring and predictable!

But since it is summer time, and since I lack much else to do since moving to a new state and not yet feeling established here, I have branched out and began experimenting with some new recipes.

Last week, I made jambalaya for the first time.

Mine didn't look this good :-(

To be honest, I didn't like it. The Husband, and my two boys did. My daughter and I... not so much.

It wasn't that it tasted bad or anything. For my daughter, I think she just found it too spicy. For me, I found it a little dry, and it was lacking something- something I couldn't put my finger on. So I'm going to find a new recipe and try again.

Yesterday was much different. I made a Four-Cheese Penne, and holy crap balls it was delicious!!!

Granted, for someone who is sensitive to dairy, it wasn't the smartest choice, per se. But it was super yummy all the same. It just requires a little portion control- both for the extreme amount of cheese in it, and for the simple fact that it is crazy high in calories and sodium. I made steamed broccoli to go with it, in an attempt to beef up the health factor of the meal. And I just have a deep love of steamed broccoli!

Crazy delicious!!!

Tonight, I'm going for something quite a bit healthier. Chicken and Roasted Veggies. In the crock pot! (I haven't used my crock pot in... years)

I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight

I'm using chicken breasts, rather than thighs, because I find chicken thighs repulsive. I also added extra gravy to it, because I added extra potatoes, so I figured it should balance out (hopefully). This recipe has less than half the calories of the penne dish, as well as less than half the sodium content. And the addition of veggies is always a plus in my book!

I may make some homemade bread to go with it, but I haven't decided yet.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

Both the chicken and penne recipes came from this little Casserole & Slow Cooker cookbook I grabbed one day in the check-out line at the grocery store. And then proceeded to forget about. For years.

Upon moving, I rediscovered it in my stacks of cookbooks, and the rest is history!

Yummy, easy, cheap, and family-friendly recipes? Score!

Incommudicado no mas

I know, I know, I suck, I fell off the radar.

Sorry.

I have much to tell, I've just been crazy busy lately.

Back soon. With details.

Footloose and cancer free

Hey hey!

I'm back and better than ever!

Suffice it to say that Thursday and Friday sucked big time, but I'll get to that.

First of all, the weather in Seattle is Ah-mazing! Holy crap I'm loving it!

The only problem is I have stupid school stuff to do, so even though I wanted to go hiking today, I don't think that's a responsible thing to do. Boo.

Oh well. Summer is almost here. Which means no school! You better believe I will be hiking the crap out of this summer!

Also, my garden is starting to sprout! It's been so freaking cold lately that nothing was happening, but now that the sun made its reappearance and the thermostat is a-rockin', things are beginning to grow! It's supposed to stay nice for the next several days (fingers crossed) so I'll be keeping an eye out for those cute little sprouts curling up and pushing the dirt out of their way.

Okay, so on to Thursday and Friday.

Thursday was "prep day", which is basically a generic medical term for "you will be miserable and hungry all day".

After taking the kids to school, I cleaned my house and slapped on the pretty as quickly as possible, then proceeded to take the four 'starter' pills at exactly 9 am.

For the next few hours I subsisted on tea (lots of tea!), water, and Jell-o. Now, I'm not a huge Jell-o fan to begin with, and when it's the only "food" you are allowed to eat, it makes it all the more depressing. I really came to hate that unnatural, jiggly substance by the end of the day.

The Husband came home from work early, as I was... shall we say... uneasy at the thought of leaving the house and being trapped in a car for 30 minutes to pick up the kids from school. Ahem.

While he headed out to get the kids, I prepped the gallon jug of electrolyte solution that I had to drink.

GAG!!!

The nurse had suggested mixing it with Crystal Light to make it taste better. I can't imagine what it would have tasted like without the Crystal Light, as my flavored concoction still tasted something akin to a homeless man's bathwater.

I will never, I repeat NEVER, drink Crystal Light again.

Blergh!!!

The only way I could get the electrolyte stuff down was with it being ice cold.

Like, ice ice ICE cold.

That was the only way it was tolerable.

This also made me super cold. At this point, I hadn't slept well in several days and hadn't eaten solid food in 18 hours. Because of this, I was under my electric blanket shivering, which made drinking this solution even more miserable.

But I got through it, and my system was, uh, cleaned out sufficiently...

I didn't sleep at all Thursday night. Partly because I was nervous about the procedures on Friday, and partly because I was still dealing with the after effects of the electrolyte stuff.

Friday morning my alarm went off at 5:50 am. Gag. I hit snooze once, but I just stared at the wall. Even though I'd maybe gotten three hours of sleep (at most) and was utterly exhausted, I was wide awake.

This was it. The day of reckoning.

I got up, got ready to go, and once my mom arrived to watch the kids, The Husband and I headed out.

Naturally, it was a bright and sunny day, and since I had to wear my glasses for the procedure (no contacts, safety precaution), I got an instant headache. I just curled up in the front seat, covered my eyes with the sleeves of my sweatshirt, and grumbled begrudgingly.

Hubs and I were both nervous, so there wasn't a lot of talking during the 35 minute drive to the clinic.

I got there, got checked in, and within a few minutes a nurse came to collect me from the waiting room. She had me change into one of those medical gowns that do nothing to hide your modesty and gave me little booties to put over my socks.

She walked me back to the triage area, where I nestled into a reclining chair with several warmed up blankets (at this point, the best part of my morning!).

It took them three tries to thread my IV catheter into a vein, so I have a massive bruise on my right hand from the burst blood vessel. It looks gross. Luckily, they were really good at what they were doing (minus the missing the vein part) so the multiple pokes with a needle didn't hurt.

After this, The Husband was brought back, and we waited for my doctor to come and explain the process to me. After he did, we waited a few more minutes, and then the nurse came to collect me and bring me back to the procedure room.

This is when I got really nervous. Up until this point, I had thought Hubs could be in the room with me, but it turns out he couldn't. Gulp.

I was shaking at this point, and the nurse could tell I was silently freaking out, so she chitchatted with me about my tattoos. Apparently she goes to the same tattoo parlor I do, so we discussed the different artists there and how it's the best one in the area.

Once she got me situated, IV cords and all, on the exam gurney thingy, she injected the Happy Drugs into my IV, and this is where everything gets a little... fuzzy.

I've had to ask Hubs several times since Friday "so is this what happened?", "they said this right?", "I think I remember this...yes?"

It's weird not being able to trust your memory and having whole chunks of time be missing!

Anyway, after we got home I spent the rest of the day either in bed or on the couch. I felt like crap! Anesthesia affects me quite strongly, so it took a long time to fully leave my system, plus after having not eaten for a full 24 hours, those two components combined to make me incredibly weak and nauseous.

BUT!

Once I did start feeling better, Hubs grilled me the most delicious steak and roasted the best potatoes ever, in celebration of the fact that....

... Everything came back normal!!!!

My colon and intestine and stomach are all good to go!

No polyps! No cancer! No gremlins!

I am waiting for the results of the biopsies to test for celiac's, and a couple other things. But regardless of those results, it will all come down to making changes to my diet. Compared to other, more life altering possibilities, I am more than willing to alter what I eat!

So yeah, all good news!

How does your garden grow?

So spring is nigh.

In theory, anyway. Considering we got about six inches total of snow this week I'm a little hesitant to fully believe it. But fingers crossed!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon planting the two maple trees finally, now that Mother Nature's version of March Madness has subsided. We also shoveled out a trailer full of topsoil and then spread grass seed.

Our front yard is almost done!!!

Of course, my celebrating has to be mildly subdued on account of my screaming back muscles. But whatevs. It was worth it.

The next major step is getting the garden prepped and ready. In theory it should have been started by now, but again, Mother Nature kind of screwed that plan up. Apparently this coming week is supposed to be really nice and get up into the 60s, so I'm super stoked about that!

We have eight 4x8 raised beds, and last year we grew snap peas, green beans, black beans, pinto beans, lettuce, carrots, onions, corn, and tomatoes. Unfortunately, the lettuce got eaten by slugs and the corn didn't mature enough before the end of the growing season. We also tried growing peppers and herbs, but neither turned out well. Likely not hot enough.

This year, we plan on amping up the nutritional value of the soil to increase our yield. While we were up to our eyeballs in carrots, peas, and green beans, everything else was a little disappointing. Not bad for our first ever garden, but there is some serious room for improvement!

First, once our greenhouse is mended we are going to start peppers and herbs in there. We also plan on building a potato tower, which I'm super excited about. We started potatoes last year, but they quickly were consumed by slugs... or rabbits... I'm not sure which. Either way, I was unimpressed. Hopefully the tower protects them. I'm going to look into planting repellent plants around them to keep away the nibbling thieves.

Also, we need to blend some compost and organic fertilizer into the beds and get the seeds planted, and I'm looking into copper tape to repel the damn slugs. Last year we tried sprinkling a barrier of slug repellent, but they just slide right over it. Bastards. Apparently copper tape is much more effective, and is also 'greener'. It's also pricier for a garden as big as ours, but it may just be worth it to not lose food to them.

Hopefully the weather really does improve as is forecasted, and I can spend next weekend being Mary Mary Quite Contrary.

First World Problems

Okay, so not to be totally obnoxious or anything, but...

Who's got two thumbs and has a new iPhone?!?

This girl!!!!

Well fine then... party pooper.

Anyway, I got a new iPhone 5 last night, and I'm super jazzed because... well, I had the iPhone 2... and I've had it for about four+ years now... and it stopped working reliably several months ago...

So it's nice to have a phone that, you know, functions. And doesn't shut itself down randomly out of some sort of technological protest or something.

So that's the latest news in my life. Exciting stuff, eh?

Moving on!

I'm taking a break from schoolwork for a little bit, because my brain is about to protest in the same manner my old phone did. Just shut off and refuse to come back on for a few hours.

And that would be inconvenient, as I have a multitude of things to get done today.

So I'm taking a breather, drinking some tea, and, well, I guess complaining about First World Problems? God, I suck.

Sorry.

The weather has been crap lately, and while I usually don't get bummed out with Seattle's rain spells, this week it has been annoying me a bit. Mostly because I seem to keep finding the deepest puddles possible to accidentally step in, and I'm running out of clean socks because of it.

Plus, I haven't had a good hair day in what feels like forever.

Partially because of the stupid wind and rain (and hail, WTF has been up with the hail lately?!?) but also because I desperately need a hair cut.

But luckily I can control one of the above issues (and clearly that's not the weather, I've tried, my powers are not nearly strong enough yet), so I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow, and I'm probably a little TOO excited about it.

See, I have long hair.

And long hair tends to go from flowy and manageable to wild untamable mess remarkably fast.

And then it becomes difficult to brush. Or shampoo. Or just keep it contained in a somewhat presentable manner.

And my hair is wavy too, which adds a whole new level of pain-in-the-ass-ness.

Combined with the wind and rain and hail... and it's been a ponytail day for a couple of weeks straight.

All the blustery-ness of late winter/early spring has also left me pining for summer to come.

I love summer.

Summer is my lobster.

(please tell me you get the reference)

Summer means hiking and camping and bonfires and road trips and gardening and total blissed out relaxation. No school. No schedules. No restrictions.

Did I mention I love summer?

But summer does come with one issue.

One haunting, tormenting, uncomfortable issue.

Shorts weather...

All women have hangups over their body. Boobs too big, boobs too small, tummy too squishy, arms too wobbly, too big of a butt, not big enough of a butt. You name it, there are a million women worried about it.

For me, it's my legs. I've always been self-conscious about them. I have these spindly calves and itty-bitty ankles, so I feel like my legs look like upside-down triangles. And as with most women, I hate my thighs.

So shorts weather makes me... uncomfortable, to say the least.

But since I am of the mindset to understand the things I can change and accept the things I cannot, I get that I have my mother's legs (thanks, ma!), so the spindly calves and ankles thing? Not much I can do. Bone structure pretty much is what it is.

But!

I'm getting a treadmill today, and I'm going to do something about my muscle tone, so even though my legs aren't proportioned how I'd like, at least they can be more shapely, and then I will *hopefully* feel more confident when shorts weather rolls around.

Plus, that whole Couch-to-5k thing is hard to keep up on when the weather has been as crappy as it has been lately. Being able to run inside will greatly help that as well.

So bring it, summer! Muhahaha!