Night One

I watched Buffy. I heart Buffy.

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I’m going to vacuum in my underwear!

After a busy weekend of:

Going to the races.

Saying “hi” to Itsahorseofcourse.

and building trellises…

I am family free until Saturday!  The Hubs is at work out of town, The Meister is in South Dakota with my parents and Miss Thang is at her mom’s house. Imma gonna go crazy!  Crazy with glee!

My to do list:

1. Go crazy
2. eat cereal for supper
3. craft with all my supplies all over the place and not pick them up
4. vacuum in my underwear 
5. watch whatever I want on the TV
6. listen to MY music as loud as I want
7. I may or may not eat cereal for supper while listening to my music in my underwear-thank the lord there will NOT be pictures of that!

I’m just mostly fat.

I was always a bigger girl.  I was not the fat kid by any means, but to say that I come from good farm girl stock would be an understatement.  I had cankles when I was 8. I never struggled with my weight until I had Meister.  I suffered from horrible postpartum depression.  My marriage being a total joke didn’t help either.  I got FAT.  I was damn heavy.  Fatty fatness.  At my heaviest I weighed 205.  Wanna see?

I was fat.  I was also blonde.

I lost 25 lbs during the first two or three weeks of the divorce.  Cheating husbands, lawyers, and cross country moves will do that to you.  There are no pictures from that time.  I am not sorry.  It was lots of ugly crying face.  I once met the cable guy with mascara all over my face and didn’t know it.  It was not a good time for me or the poor cable guy. 

I worked hard at losing more weight and got down to 167.  That was awesome.  Wanna see?  

It’s Frageeelay!

Notice I’m not wearing a wedding ring in the pic?  That’s because The Hubs and I were just dating then.  We got married a year later and then blam-o it was a comfort zone eating free for all because I’d done snagged me a man.  Ugh.

So I’m back to Divorce Diet weight. Actually, I’m 177.  Woot woot!

Whatcha gonna do about it Liz?

Eh nothin’ 

Just kidding.  I have been using a calorie tracker since March.  It’s an app for your phone called Lose It!  I’m doing great– at least in my head I am.  My goal is 160.  Pre-Meister is 150, but that was also when I was 24.  Realistically, 160 is probably a good place for me to be.  I’d be a easy to slip on slightly loose 13/14 then.  I’m in that size now in some brands, others a 15/16.

Being transparent about weight struggles and goals is a good thing for me.  Food issues abound in my head. (did you know I hide when I eat? Or how I can eat two lunches and not feel full?)   I like to hear about other people’s issues too.  It helps me feel not alone.  I like to hear that you can eat 10 sugar cookies in one sitting too.    What about you?  Are you mostly fat?  What do you struggle with?

Garden Update

It has been just about 3 weeks since I planted out all of my seedlings.  Things are looking well.  I added a fresh layer of grass clippings last night.  I never used to do this, but it’s really been helping with the weeds.  The first picture is of the raised beds.  I have plans to add one or two more this fall.  I think I’ll be done adding to them.  I think…

Starting at the top bed that looks like a number 7 we have from left to right: Old German tomato, Rhubarb, Silvery Fir tomato, and Spudakee tomato.  In the next bed that looks like an L from top to bottom: 9 yes 9! Jalapeno plants, bell peppers green and red, cubanelle peppers, cilantro, sage, sweet basil, lemon basil, thai basil, dill, and brussel sprouts.  That sucker is full!  in the square bed I have a zuchinni, burpless cucumbers and a pickling cucumber.  I can’t remember the varieties right now and I’m not at home.  I’ll get back to you.  The potato towers are doing great!  I have German Butterball and La Ratte planted.  This is my first year with the towers, so I am curious what the yield will be.

This is the back fence garden, creative I know.  I doubled the size of this garden over the fall and spring.  I really like how it turned out.

On the far left are my lilacs.  I planted them in the fall of 2008 and they were really really really slow to take off, but they just exploded with growth this year.  I think the mild winter helped?  Maybe?  Who knows.  Tucked in the back by the fence line are some shallots.  I didn’t know what to do with them and I didn’t want them mixed in with the onions so I threw them in the corner.  Next we have Baby Boo pumpkins that volunteered.  I planted those three years ago and they have been volunteering ever since.  There are also Irises all along the fence line.

On the right side of the back gate I planted another tomato so I could experiment with letting it trail.  It is a Roughwood Golden Plum.  Then I have irises, Husker Red Penstemom, and onions.  In the box looking thing are some young pumpkin plants.  I got a free pumpkin from Trader Joe’s last year.  I saved the seeds.  I wish I knew what kind it was.  I was delicious.  That I know for sure.  There also seems to be a red pool noodle in my garden.  I will have to ask the kids about that.

In the corner behind the shed is the compost bin, wheelbarrow storage, brick pile, garden paraphernalia stuff that never seems to have a home.   Don’t look at me that way, you have a corner like that too!

Me and my bestie!

High Five for Friday!

It was a week.  Just a week.  Nothing monumental.  Plants are blooming.  The kids played.  It was all good.

Let’s link up with Lauren get ready for the weekend!

5.  First tomato blossoms.  This is from a plant called Mom’s Big Fat Cherry Tomatoes.  I shit you not.

4.  First pumpkin in the making.  Three years ago I planted Baby Boo pumpkins.  They have been volunteering out of the compost ever since.  I get hundreds of pumpkins every year.

 3.  Max earned his keep hunting the godforsaken bunnies that eat everything in my garden.  How do I make them go away???

2.  Miss Thang showing you that even girly girls dig for gold.

1.  I don’t have the words.

More Turquoise Door

I promised more pictures of the front door.  Enjoy!

I love me some enamelware!

I love how funky my hip looks in the reflection.  Not.

This boy is somebody’s baby

The Meister

My heart.

My baby.

He’s the only child I’ve given birth to and the only one I ever will.  You know how I feel right?  Your kids are born and you finally know love.  Your heart explodes with joy.  You would do anything for them.

I think people tend to forget that other people’s kids are somebody’s baby. They roll their eyes, sigh, and generally act annoyed when a child causes an inconvenience to them.  They throw a fit in the theater, they pee in the play place at McDonalds, they are those kids in the restaurant.  Whatever their behavior they are still somebodies baby.

My child causes an inconvenience to a lot of parents on a daily basis.  He has severe food allergies, specifically peanuts and tree nuts.  He’s the reason you can’t bring peanut butter cookies for treats at school.  He’s the kid with the mom who will ask a million and one questions about the food you are serving your birthday party and then ask “hey are you comfortable with me leaving this life saving device that you may or may not need to inject him with all the while calling 911 as he’s trying not to die on your living room floor?”  He’s my baby.  I need him to be safe.  I need him to live through your birthday party.  Extreme?  Not really.  Have you seen your child turn blue while their throat closes shut?  Have you slammed an Epi-Pen into your child’s thigh all the while praying they don’t die?  I have.  I never ever want to do it again.

I have had people roll their eyes at me when I ask to check the ingredients in the birthday cupcakes.  I have had them tell me, “Oh just one bite won’t hurt him.”  His own grandmother once said “if you give him a little bit each day he’ll grow out of it.”  Um, no he won’t.  He’ll die thankyouverymuch.

Thankfully those assholes are few and far between. I have encountered some wonderful wonderful people out there.  They are so understanding. So willing to comply with my crazy requests.  They get it.  They know.  He’s my baby.  Even when he looks like this…

High Five for Friday

What a great week.  I feel good about myself, my life, my family.  Yay for this week.  Linking up with Lauren has become such a fun way to end the week.  Here we go!

5. I went to the zoo with Meister’s class.  When I arrived there must have been 30 buses in the parking lot and 8 gagillion kids running around.  It was chaos.  Once we got inside and paired up with the kids, it was much much better.

4.  I ate this cake.  It was amazeballs.  It was a poppy seed cake with lemon curd filling.  My tongue did the happy dance when I tasted it.

3.  I went to The Spring Terrier games at a local recreation area.  It was an event that highlighted local rescues here in Nebraksa.  Meister loved the Mastiff named Broccoli.  The Hubs really wants a Mastiff.  I told him we can get one when Max dies.  Max is 6.  Hopefully we have a long long time until we get a 150 pound dog.

2.  The Hub’s best friend since first grade came over with his family.  The boys thought it would be fun to try out the new tag-a-long bike we got for Miss Thang.  They reverted back to their first grade selves in an instant.

1.  I was let go from my PRN position at the hospital because they are fully staffed.  I am actually happy about it.  I loved working in the ER.  Loved the people.  I didn’t love the fact it was in addition to my regular 40 hour work week.  Woot woot to only having one job.  Now if only I could win the lottery and have NO job.  That would be awesomesauce.

Have a great weekend.  

I’m gonna plant some more plants, mow the yard, and do laundry.  I’m CRAZY like that!

Dinner last night…

Remember this recipe?  It looked dang delicious and I couldn’t wait to make it.  I was so gonna follow the recipe. Then I got home and realized I had almost none of the ingredients.  Rather than run to the store, I used what I had.  Here is the original ingredient list with my actual ingredients.

3 medium sweet potatoes   I had 2
1.5 cups corn  I had a can of Mexican corn-the kind with red and green peppers in it.
1 tsp. chili powder nope, cayenne is the same right?  I kid.  I did use it though
1 tsp. cumin I didn’t measure of course
1/2 tsp. oregano more like a half hearted dash
1 Tbsp. canola oil  EVOO

 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced 1/2 of a Vidalia onion
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed I actually had this one
cilantro, to taste yeah no
1 oz. cream cheese  2 Laughing Cow wedges “cream cheese” flavor
1/4 cup sour cream nada
1 to 3 chipotles in adobo, finely minced nope, I did use several hearty glugs of Tapatio hot sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheese I don’t remember what kind it was.  I threw the wrapper away long ago, it was orange tho!

I baked as instructed, and used my stoneware for a nice crispy skin. 

Sadly, this is how most of my recipe following goes when I’m cooking.  When I bake I’m much more diligent because baking is a science.  Cooking is an art, and art is all about how you interpret it.  Right?  I can tell you that The Hubs wishes I was more of a scientist and less of an artist when it comes to dinner time.  I say, PSHAW to that.  What I made turned out quite good. 

I think I need to work on my food styling…

 Here is my recipe which is adapted from http://ellysaysopa.com/  This is a great blog I stumbled upon while cruising through foodgawker.com  

2 sweet potatoes
1 small can of Mexican style corn
1/2-1tsp cayenne (i did this to taste) 
1 tsp of cumin 
1/2 tsp of oregano
1/2 of a vidalia onion diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 can black beans rinsed
2 Laughing Cow “cream cheese” wedges
1 Tbs Tapatio or your favorite hot sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice


Bake the potatoes at 350 until they are fork tender, mine took 50 minutes.  Set them aside to cool.  

Add the olive oil to your skillet and heat over medium high heat.  Throw in the can of corn and diced onions.  Saute until corn is slightly browned and onions are tender crisp.  This took about 7 minutes for me.

Transfer those to a bowl to cool.  Add your spices and black beans. 

When your potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in half and scoop out the flesh and put it in a large bowl.  I left a little bit in each skin to add stability.  There is nothing worse than a flaccid potato skin.  Wow, that was dirty.

To your potato flesh add the cream cheese wedges and Tapatio.  Mash well with a potato masher.  Then add your shredded cheese reserving a little for sprinklage and give it a quick stir.  I didn’t add the cheese before the mash because I wanted it to stand out a little in the mixture.  Next add the corn/bean mix to the potato/cheese mix.  Refill your potato skins with the mixture and sprinkle a little shredded cheese on top.  Pop them under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese.  Enjoy!