The Holy Grail....I Think I Found It!

Me and my big ideas. I’m always searching. Always on the lookout for something awesome that could make a difference in my world. Sometimes because I’m just curious, and sometimes out of necessity.

My Crock Pot has been something of a monkey on my back since I got it. First, I wanted a programmable Crock Pot, and I got one. Except it isn’t programmable on the front end, only in its cook time (start in the morning when you leave and then it holds your food on warm until you turn it off). Second, it cooks FAR hotter than I believe a Crock Pot should cook on low heat. Third, the handle slowly started to crumble – not a huge functional issue, but a pain none the less. Fourth, I must’ve slammed it down on the counter a little too hard one time as one of the legs is dented in so that I must put a kitchen towel underneath so that she stays level during use. Mostly, I just needed a new one.

A shot of the handle on my ghetto Crock Pot with the gangsta lean

In spending some time searching for the Crock Pot of my dreams some other appliances passed through the Google indexes – some of which I had noticed before only briefly, and some that I had never heard of. I was looking for a number of things in a slow cooker:

1. A machine that would take whatever I dumped into it in the morning and make it into a delectable meal by the time I got home from work.
2. A machine that was programmable…ON THE FRONT END! I want to put my food in the pot, and if it only takes 4 hours to cook, and I’m leaving at 8am, and returning at 4pm, it will not start cooking until noon.
3. A machine big enough to cook a roast that is several pounds.

And then I noticed the Instant Pot. I quickly scrolled through article after article on Pinterest. I searched through recipes, through what to do if you’re a beginner, I Googled what it would cook, how it could be used, how big it was, what you could put in it, how easy it was to figure everything out. And when I was done with my research, I KNEW that the Instant Pot was what I wanted. I quickly added it to my Wish List (something I’ll write about another time).

The battle ensued between Mikey and my Momma as to who was going to present this culinary treasure to me on Christmas. My Momma emerged the victor – though Mikey will likely reap most of the spoils. My parents got me the Instant Pot, a lid, and a cookbook to help me start making delicious, healthy meals.

I pulled it out of the box on New Year’s Day and read the entire manual. (Yes, I’m THAT person.) After reading the manual, and a few articles from Pinterest on how to start out, I cooked myself some water – a first step in preparing the machine for other gastronomic magic.

In our house we try to eat healthy – as healthy as possible. And we love to snack on hard boiled eggs. Side note: Did you know hard boiled eggs provide good fats, are naturally high in protein, contain good amounts of vitamin A & D, and is only 80 calories? When I found a recipe to cook hard boiled eggs in 5 minutes – YES PLEASE! Incidentally, being a pressure cooker, the Instant Pot should help us keep out of restaurants so much. To demonstrate how much time it saves: It will cook dry beans in under an hour!

I followed the very simple instructions on how to cook the eggs: 1 cup of water in the pot, add steamer tray, place eggs in, close lid and set timer. That’s it. The recipe promised perfectly cooked eggs, with shells that peel off easily. And it did not disappoint! No more ugly deviled eggs!

I haven’t had a chance to cook anything else in my Instant Pot yet (spent the following day zoodling (more on that later) but I’m ready to roll. I seriously can’t wait to put my ol’ Crock Pot on the Buy Nothing site….and maybe my rice cooker too!

Try, Try Again

The other day my daughter asked me why I don’t blog anymore. I guess it’s because life is so busy. And sometimes even the things we really enjoy can become a chore. I am resistant to tell even myself that I am going to start doing something regularly for fear that I won’t follow through. The impending failure is too much. I have so much self doubt, my ability to cope with failure is all taken up by my job. I don’t have room to disappoint myself too.

I enjoy writing; I always have. I’ve always wanted to write a book. I still have a promise lingering out there in the universe to my 9th grade English teacher, Mr. Hamel, to dedicate my first book to him. But I write a lot for work – nothing therapeutic or funny (ok, maybe sometimes my sarcastic brand of humor works its way in), or in any way documents my life experiences, but the need to put words on a page is fulfilled.

 I didn’t really ask Lil about why she was asking; I seem to recall we were laughing at something that her brother said. I suppose it’s because even though she finds it embarrassing at times, she likes that I write about her and her brother. When she was younger I wouldn’t let her read what I wrote. It wasn’t for them. It was for me, and for those of my friends who felt like connecting with me, sharing in my joys, and in my frustrations. Now, I would let her read it, but she’s no longer got any access to the internet (that’s a story for another day). Reading back on a few of the posts, I’m glad I wrote them. They provide a memory, more accurately told because of the timeliness of capturing the moment. When that moment may otherwise fade – the details evaporating as new memories fill their space – it’s here in black and white to look back at and laugh about.

 Now I’m encouraging her to write her own blog. I don’t have any expectation that she will become the next blogger phenom. Like me, English and writing come naturally to her. Written words on the page help her to clear her head, organize her thoughts, and express her feelings in a way that she can’t express otherwise. Her unique perspective could also help others (something I hope for in my musings here).

 With 2 other bloggers in the house, I want to renew my intention to capture moments in writing. I’m not a resolution kind of girl. But I do reflect – on what I’ve accomplished, where I could’ve done better, on the goals I have, and on how I wish to spend my time. Intention in my line of work means everything. And while the road to hell may be paved with them, I’m headed there anyway so why not intend to write again?

Here I go again

Every year I say that I am going to be better about blogging and every year I make it just a little bit further into the year. In 2013 I made it through to March and then I quit. Life got in the way, work got in the way and sometimes I was just being lazy or didn't feel like I had anything to say. And so, here I am again, with renewed ambition. We all have things that help us ease stress and induce calm. Writing does that for me - even if it's just talking about some new recipe I tried. Refocusing my energy away from work (especially now that I have a newer, more intense job) and towards something else is always refreshing and relaxing....and my family will tell you if it's one thing I need to do it's relax.

I know that it's not quite the new year, but I thought maybe I would start now. I'm really only two days away anyway. And I'm totally stressing out about the next 6 days. In 6 days I am flying to Boston where I will be staying for 6 weeks! I'm worried about leaving my work behind, I'm worried I'm not going to pack the right stuff, I'm worried about the unknown that will meet me in Cambridge, I'm worried that I'm going to miss my husband and kids so terribly that I'm going to be miserable, I'm worried about making friends, and on and on and on.

I'm working on quelling some of my fears. I've already written list after list after list for packing. And, if you follow me on Pinterest, you'll know that I've been compiling outfits that are inter-related so that I can maximize pairing different things together. I've done my best to get things taken care of at work ahead of time but I am still leaving in the middle of contract negotiations with a sensitive group that has already been through a lot.

 Mostly, the main root of my fears is that I feel selfish for pursuing this schooling (at Harvard! Did I mention that?) at the expense of the hubs and my kids. I'm going to miss my daughter's birthday. I'm going to miss countless wrestling matches and basketball games. I know they'll be ok and can make it without me, but I work hard to make sure our family life runs smoothly. Perhaps I won't be scarring the kids for life - heck, maybe they'll barely notice - but either way I hope that I am at the very least showing them what it means to take the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that are presented to you and finding a way to make it happen.

Now, I have to get back to creating my family notebook for my mom. (She's going to be staying here off and on while I'm gone.) As I've been typing it I almost think it would a nice thing to have around all the time - contact info, medical stuff, dog care, kids chores, their schedules - but I hope that it helps her.

I know that I will be reachable by phone. And I hope to be able to Skype with them every night. And, we even are taking the opportunity to fly them out to see me for a week. But I still won't be here at home.

Unreal Expectations but pretty good results

I always have grand plans for my days off. Just like the myriad of things I’d like to get done during the course of the year, I do the same for my days. I try to wake up early, sit and have my coffee, and make good use of a day that I don’t have to go to work. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. On any given day I probably get more done than the average bear but I still lay down in bed at night regretting the things that I didn’t accomplish. Rationally I know that it is unreasonable to think I could possibly accomplish the 19 goals I set for myself in one day, but my nature sure pushes me to try.

Today I wanted to get out with Lilly to look at a few things for her room which means a total lack of productivity at home for most of the day. Once you have to leave your house at least part of the day is shot. Especially when you live out in the country and it takes 20 minutes to get anywhere! We found some good stuff and we made it home in time to make quite a bit of progress on her room. She is thrilled with the results – which alone makes me happy – and I think it’s going to look great.  It already looks better and is far more functional than it was.

Unfortunately for me and my lofty goals I did NOT get anything done in the den. It has returned to its original state of chaos (see my post last year of Monica’s closet) and desperately needs some attention. If I’m going to achieve my other goal of getting up and working out I’ve GOT to get the den cleaned up so that I can set up the treadmill. Ahhh, if it’s not one thing it’s another…

So I woke up with a backache, and I am ending the day with a backache, but I accomplished something and I guess that will have to be good enough.

New Year, New Possibilities, Real Expectations

At the turn of every year a new realm of possibilities opens to every one of us. At this time of year my mind races endlessly as I contemplate all of the things I'd like to accomplish in the coming 12 months. I'm not really sure why the "new" year is such a significant time to us; it really is just another day, with a new number assigned to it. But there is something cleansing and hopeful at the thought of being able to put the past aside and focus on the good things to come.

Every year I set myself some personal goals. I don't always share all of them with my friends, or my family, or even my husband. Maybe that's because I don't want to have to admit that I failed? But I'm not sure that's particularly the reason because, like I always tout, I'm a realist. I don't have any false expectation that I will achieve all of my goals. I'm a perfectionist so I'm used to failure. But I think it's important to have some things in mind. And honestly, if I even complete one of them, I will be satisfied.

I can't really verbalize them all at this point (there are still a bunch I haven't quite fleshed out). But here are some of them:

We promised Lilly we would revamp her room for her birthday. She wanted a bigger, better desk and some updating done. She really needs a lot of storage and some great organization. Because although I hate to admit it, she's pretty messy. So I'm working on some organizing solutions and we're teaching each other the value of letting things go - that holding on to "things" cannot take the place of the best file folder we have: our mind. Luckily, we've already started this project so I'm already well on my way.

Today while we were driving home from MurMur's house Lilly made a statement that both made me giggle and made me think. She said, "I never want to grow up. Then I will just have to pay bills and worry about the economy." Now, I don't think we regularly complain about our finances in front of the kids - other than the usual parents' lament to their children about how they can't afford that one big thing for Christmas in the hopes when it's there on Christmas morning their belief in Santa Claus will be renewed - but both Brandon and I are NPR nerds and regularly discuss the goings-on of the world. I don't want to shelter my kids from the reality of the real world, but I also don't want them to worry about grown-up things. Like many of us these days we are watching what we spend, but this year I'd like to make our finances even healthier. Making smart decisions with our money is important in today's economy, but let's get real: making smart decisions with our money is important in ANY economy.

And for the stuff I still need flesh out: finishing projects that have already been started, getting (and STAYING) more organized, exercising in the morning, trying more new foods, growing and canning a lot of our own food.....the list goes on and on.

Any of you make resolutions? Care to share? I'd love to hear them....just comment on this post!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Monica's Closet

I have a dirty little secret.

I know I've quoted and chatted about 'Friends', my favorite TV show of all time, before. I watched it religiously when it first ran when I was in high school and I faithfully watch re-runs now. I just can't get enough. For whatever reason it just never gets old! Anyway, if you've watched 'Friends' you may know that Monica is OCD; she can't handle anything out of place and is fanatical about it. On one episode one of the friends exposes her secret: a messy closet full of junk!

In the first years that we met, as well as the first year or so of our marriage Brandon constantly called me Monica. Just for background I acquired my OCD from my mother who is worse than I am. Thankfully (because really who can be like that forever....other than my mom) I have relaxed, a little, and can accept that being a full time mom, having a full time job, running my own business and doing all the other things I do that sometimes things will be out of place.

If you stop by my house on any given day you'll probably find it pretty tidy. I try, I really do, to keep it kept up. Unfortunately there is one room that has become Monica's closet. Everyone has something like this, right? A drawer, a closet, a room? I know you do! Are you ready? Here is mine:

Now, you have to realize, I took 8 large bins of stuff out of it yesterday so this is better than sometimes. I know, sad right?

There are a number of reasons why this room exists this way:

1. I need at least one place to "throw" stuff when people are coming over unexpectedly
2. We have not sat down and created an actual plan for the office and transformed it into a working, functional space (please help HGTV!)
3. It was just Christmas and it's easy to hide stuff in here (Good luck finding your gift amongst everything else kids!)
4. I don't have enough time...

And so with our finishing projects this year hopefully many of the things that get thrown in this room will have a place to live in our shed and I can finally create a functional, workable space that won't have to be a secret anymore.