What are you reading?

The Art of Eating In

I hate to say this because it makes me sound like such a party pooper but I'm SUPER picky when it comes to movies and books.  I always feel bad when I go on a date with my husband because there are very few generas that we both can enjoy. 

The reason I am very particular is because each story I watch, or read becomes apart of me.  I can remember details in movies for many many years even if I didn't like the movie or just saw a little bit of it, I can't help it.  There are many times that I wish I wasn't this way.  I want to go to the movies with my husband and not watch a historical or family film.  Or even when we are at home to watch a war/ action movie with him would make his day but....I really don't like violence, gore, over use of bad language or sexuality anything (which is almost every movie out there except for family films).

Books have a stronger hold.  When I am reading a book, suddenly my opinions may start resembling the main characters.  I'm now picking back up "The Art of Eating In".  It's written by a blogger in NYC who will not eat out.  Instead, you watch how her life changes from when she first decided to eat in to....well I can't tell you the end because I haven't finished it.  I started reading it awhile ago and I was driving my husband mad!!!  While reading it I insisted on eating in for our dates or if we must eat out it had to be a local restaurant and not some chain (which is hard to find if you didn't know where to look).

So, why am I picking this book back up? Because I haven't been eating my own cooking for a little over two months.  For about two months I've been too sick to even look at the ingredients in my fridge and pantry.  Can you guess why food was so distasteful? Yup, I'm pregnant, and I am finally able to think about food with out getting squeamish.  So, I'm using this book, not only for entertainment and recipes, but to help reignite my love of cooking. See I do use my super picky-ness for the powers of good (not just to annoy people).        

Do you have any problems reading or watching movies?

Nolan The Artist

Nolan is becoming the avid artist.  Most times we have to use our imagination to guess what he is drawing/painting but I find that is just as wonderful as if he painted a realistic painting of fruit. :)

He is also becoming quite the poser.  It was hard to catch him painting once he realized I was taking his picture.

Chalk and Kashi don't mix

So, something just happened that pulled me out of my "whoa is me" thinking and got me laughing. 

As of late I've been waking up starving at all hours of the night. To combat being disturbed from my sleep I eat a small cup of Kashi Go Lean cereal right before bed.
Okay, this might gross you out but I don't like milk in my cereal so I kinda end up using the same cup two nights in a row.  I keep the cup close to my bed for easy reach at night.

Tonight, was no different. I grabbed my kashi poured it in my cup and headed to bed. While eating and reading other blogs I discovered a piece of chalk in my kashi. "okay, odd. Probably nolan putting it in my cup. Good thing I'm not grossed out by this." Is all I thought. 

Little while later I suddenly came upon a big CRUNCH!  Yep, you guessed it more chalk!

I got up to spit it out and found out that it was red chalk. Oh, did I get Steve when I walked into the kitchen with red chalk juice streaming down my lip!  What fun!

Christmas Time

So, I was going to start this post off by saying that I was hit over the head by Christmas lights and just now came out of Christmas comma but that would be a lie. This is the first year since Nolan has been born, that I have had time to breath and get excited and AND watch Christmas movies!  I've seen a total of THREE Christmas movies this year where as last year it was more like half a movie.  I've read the Christmas Carol (again) and who knows what other festive things I've been doing.

Nothing has been rushed or pushed or "tradition" that wasn't fun.  The first Christmas Nolan was around he was only a month old, and I literally broke down in tears because I couldn't wrap the gifts...I wasn't well.  But now I can appreciate our FIVE Christmas', for the first time in my marriage.

The reason for my renewal of Christmas cheer and joy, okay I have to give credit to the kid.  Nolan is suddenly interested in the presents and gets excited about things, like the advent calendar and movies, and Wall-E (but Wall-E is another post).  His eyes get so excited and I feel myself remembering what it felt like to just be happy about getting a gift or seeing someone or COOKIES!

For so long I've looked at Christmas as an has been, brutally scandalized by materialism and advertizing.  It was really hard to get excited about giving and getting gifts that you HAD to give and get.  They weren't like gifts that you scraped every extra penny to buy the perfect thing and then wrapped it up super deceiving so that they would never guess what was inside.  Nope, Christmas for awhile now was just about spending money to get by and hope someone listened to you enough to know what to get you.  But year after year you'd get the same old things, a lot of them too, fake smile and Thank Yous would follow and then go home feeling broke, tired, and unknown.    

Re-reading my last paragraph I know I sound spoiled and I have to admit that I am.  I grew up poor.  Each kid maybe got  five or six presents but they were super special.  Each gift had HOURS of thought put into them.  Even if it was a stuffed Tiger, the approach to giving the gift was always thought out.  By the way the Tiger was placed on my bed right after I woke up and a note under the tree directed me back to my room where, to me, a Tiger magically appeared, super cool and a great laugh.  I could go on and on about all the funny, heart warming, and great times that my family and I had on Christmas morning (Plus, I got engaged on Christmas!).  Which is why I feel spoiled, my poor child Christmas' were so much warmer and heartfelt than anything I have tried to create or had since.

Until this year.  This year I get to share with my son the magic I miss and suddenly the spirit of Christmas came rushing back.
 
Which is why I haven't written... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!  

How do you eat your pancakes?

Pancakes with leftover cranberry sauce

For as long as I can remember I am the object of comment when I eat my pancakes because I make stars out of them.  Every cut is made with the intention of forming my pancake into a star.

I don't know why I do it, other than its soo cute! But as I consumed my pancakes tonight I thought.  I wonder if others eat their food a little weird.

Why Homemade?

Homemade Marshmallows (picture taken by me)

Everyone once in awhile I step back and ask myself, “Why do I have to make everything I can possibly make?”   Today, I went grocery shopping and saw that they had pie dough, something I might need in this festive time of year but I didn’t want to buy it because it wasn’t what I wanted.  I wanted a whole wheat pie crust, and since whole wheat pie crusts are expensive (any pie crust over a dollar is expensive to me) I would much rather make it. 

In fact I would much rather make a lot of things.  Like right now, I am boiling beans for some of this week’s meals.  Why don’t I just skip a step and buy the canned version?  Because they are not what I want.  They’re too salty and “expensive” especially when you look at buying a bag of dried beans for $1.50 which makes around 6 “cans” of beans.  But why can’t I just pay a little more and reap convenience?

I ask myself that all the time and sometimes I do cave to the ease of a more expensive item, but it doesn’t happen often.  I don’t even like buying frozen pizza anymore because I can make pizza in about 40 min beginning to end, everything made from scratch.  I’m not bragging, I’m just trying to explain how far my, “I can make it” mentality has come. 

But it doesn’t stop at cooking my craze follows me through every facet of my life.  Yes, I buy food from the store but I would much rather have locally grown produce, so I have a garden (of which I am still learning to cultivate).  I like beans and so next year I’m planning on growing some black and kidney beans. 

Almost all the decorations in my home are homemade or repurposed, and there are still more to come that I haven’t had time to “make”.  I make some of my son’s toys, pillow cases, covers, and curtains because I couldn’t find anything that I like for the price I was willing to pay.  

But just like I said in the beginning, everyone once in awhile I have to ask myself, “Why do I have to make everything I can possibly make?” and I think it boils down to this:  

It’s the drive of knowing that something comes from somewhere and that it could be better if only you put your mind and hands to work. And sometimes it’s not “better” in taste, quality or style but when you look at it and share it there is a soul about your creation that no super store could duplicate.

I love that soul.  That singular character, whether in a taste, quality, or in that fact you saved .50₵ there is something to admire about a homemade creation.

And so I’m going to save this post and head back over to my stove to finish boiling my beans, and once done I’ll make some breakfast burritos for my husband’s breakfast, and an advent calendar for my son to enjoy through the month of December and maybe, if there is still time, some ornaments to put in the calendar.    

Is there something that you just have to make and can’t ever buy?

More Printable Labels

I just remembered about these printables from GiversLog.  They are soo cute and festive.