Scattered Sundays and Meal Plan
What if Jango Fett (the original stormtrooper) was claustrophobic? And then they cloned him a million times over not knowing that the standard issued uniform helmet was going to be a real issue? That would have been an HR and stress leave paperwork nightmare. And even though it is so many years in the future, I just have this gut feeling that the Empire requires departments to fill all forms in triplicate.
#thuglife
The other night I had one leg that was covered in goosebumps and the other had absolutely nothing on it. I mean what in the world? How does that even happen? Bodies are weird.
I read about the founding of this group the other day in EatingWell magazine and thought it was wonderful. Just goes to show you that so often prejudice comes from a place of not understanding and being unable to see similarities in the lives of someone different from us.
Nothing is funnier than seeing computers on old reruns of Law & Order. They are huge and can’t do anything, but the cutting edge technology is always so impressive to the characters on the show. Except for Lenny. God rest his soul, Lenny cannot be bothered by computers. He’ll stick to his Rolodex thank you very much.
I know our Sustainable Cooks community is pretty amazing, so I’m sharing this story in the hopes that this brave little girl recovering from severe burns can receive letters from around the country (or even world).
This week as I started to ramp down my crazy person pace of launching the new site. I took little snippets of time to let myself have some enjoyment. I found myself turning on Top Chef on Hulu at night when I was working on posts, editing photos, etc. I watched a lot of Top Chef in the two weeks right after Bennett was born, and it felt like meeting up with heavily-tattooed old friends. Still no idea why they put Pop Rocks and foam on everything, but it’s good entertainment. Troy likes to joke that if I were a judge on the show I would vote out anyone who served mushrooms.
Who watched the Super Bowl last week? Jack was losing his mind for most of the game. I don’t know much about the Eagles and have no real preference for them, but it was so lovely to see the Patriots not win another Super Bowl. Sorry. Not Sorry.
We had Bennett’s birthday party yesterday and it seemed to be a decent success. Kid’s birthday parties are not my wheelhouse and I don’t go all in or crazy about them. If that is what you love to do, then I salute you. But better you than me. 🙂
I usually put all my energy into the food for birthday parties, and I was honest with myself this year and parred it way down and simplified it. And that worked well in my favor since we had people dropping like flies the day of the party. Had I done my normal spread of food, we would all be eating the same thing for the next week. This time, I just did sandwiches from Costco, salad, chips and salsa, and a winter fruit salad. And cupcakes of course.
The theme of the party was two things that Bennett loves dearly – peacocks and ferry boats. His invite:
I have a friend who makes absolutely amazing cake toppers with fondant. She is like a ninja with that stuff. Me? I buy some Peeps and glue some candy peacock feathers on their asses with frosting. I invented the Peepcock. And that my friends is how I roll.
When the townie peacock shows up 30 minutes early for the peacock-themed birthday.
My stance on giving kids expensive presents is pretty firm, especially when they are young. They don’t know what is happening and can’t properly take care of the item. Last year we gave Bennett a refurbished play kitchen for his birthday. My grandpa made it by hand for my mom when she was a kid.
Jan 2017
Since his birthday last year, the play kitchen has been used almost daily. Every kid who comes over wants to play with it, regardless of how old they are. It is not unusual to see a toddler and a 10-year-old playing together. But we have never had a good solution for storing all the play food that Bennett was gifted and inherited.
I had the idea last year to rework a little cupboard that my grandpa had also made for my mom. As far as we can tell, it originally was designed to hold doll clothes and accessories. I’m sure my grandma made every single one of those doll clothes meant to hang on the little dowel. The plan had been to turn it into a fridge last summer, but given the turns that our life took during that time, the cupboard sat in our garage.
Troy started the process of remodeling the fridge a few weeks ago. My grandpa’s work was always amazing and he did incredibly solid work. This doll cupboard was no exception. It took Troy two days to sand it down to the grain because the paint grandpa had used was so thick and expertly applied that it was like lacquer. Come to think of it, he probably did use lacquer.
You know shit is getting real when the Carhartt jacket comes out.
Once it was finally sanded down, Troy used a spare piece of wood to make a little shelf for the play fridge. We spent $8 for drawer pulls that became the play fridge handles. Troy looked on Amazon for little appliance logos, but even the cheapest was $6. I suggested we (he) pry the logo off of our basement freezer, and he glued it to the front.
A few $2 baskets from Target completed the project. And for a total price of $14, Bennett now has his very own play fridge for storing food. He is a prepper no longer. I told Troy that if Bennett gets an island for his kitchen before I do, heads will roll.
The weather was incredibly mild here this week (sorry Midwesterners) and not only did I walk almost every day without a jacket, we even had to the mow the lawn! Between Jack’s basketball schedule and the weather, we didn’t have a single fire this week. I need to get an app where I can just watch some flames for a few minutes to zone out before bed.
Can we talk about light therapy for acne? I keep seeing these masks in ads and I need to know more about them. Do you have one? Does it work? Overall, I have been fighting my adult acne by using the oil cleansing method and that mostly works. I have occasional flare-ups from time to time, but nothing like what I used to have. But my real problem is really dark scarring and nothing topical seems to help with that. Have you used a light mask to improve scarring?
Thank goodness for make up
Something I need to know: What is one item in your kitchen that you can’t live without?
Meal Plan time!
Monday:: Instant Pot Lentil Soup and No Knead Bread. I love having a big pot of soup to eat all week, and this one is so healthy and full of veggies.
Tuesday:: Instant Pot Sticky Korean Chicken and rice. <—This chick’s brother just won a gold medal for snowboarding!
Wednesday:: Homemade frozen pizza and roasted veggies. Jack has basketball so a quick meal is necessary.
Thursday:: Easy Homemade Tomato Soup, roasted veggies, and biscuits.
Friday:: Popcorn, leftovers and movie night.
Saturday:: TBD
Sunday:: Family dinner
Smith Brother’s Farms: $19.79
Fred Meyer: $21.21. Have you ever tried Real Salt? We love it.
Costco: $39.35
What are you having this week?
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Hi Sarah, have you tried tea tree oil ointment? It’s my go-to for acne red spots and scars. The spots heal and fade much more quickly. My mother has used it after multiple surgeries and her surgeons were impressed with her quick healing and lack of scarring.
I used to use it for acne treatment, but I never noticed much of a difference. I also used it for bathroom cleaning. And then I spent so much time barfing in the bathroom while pg with Jack and now I cannot tolerate the smell at all! 🙁
I have very similar skin to yours (very fair, prone to adult acne) and I’ve had really good luck using Mederma. It has a new formula that is just a once a day application (used to be 2x/day which got annoying) and works great, especially if you start it right away when you notice the discoloration. And it’s easy to find Mederma at most any grocery store or Walgreen’s, etc. But maybe you’ve already tried it . . . ?
I’ve definitely seen it but have never tried it. I was always under the impression that it was for newer scars and not old ones. Hmmmm, I’ll look into it. Thank you!
Isn’t it so fun to be butt white with lovely acne scars? Ugh.
Hahaha, yes it’s the BEST!!! Anyway, for the Mederma I do find that it’s helpful on both new and older scars although you need to use it for a longer period of time on the older scars . . . My derm also gave me a hydroquinone cream to use on a few light sun spots I have on my temples but I’m still deciding on how well I think that one works . . .
I love the randomness of your post. So first: I will have the kids “write” to the little girl in (from Germany!) and talk about fire to them again!
Second: You cut some very good looking citrus fillets!
And… I love the odd combination theme party. 2 year olds are weird (and so cute at it). The fridge is amazing! Please tell Troy that it has an essentianl flaw, and that he needs to mount an LED the turns on when they open the door. This might possibly give you approx 5 hours of uninterrupted work time day its installed, and at least an hour per day in the week that follows 😉
Thank you! I learned how to do that in a cooking class I took for a team event when I worked for a $$$$ company in LA. I adore citrus of any kind and especially love it when it is all ready to go in the fridge.
Oh man, how did we miss the LED light in the fridge? He’s so fired!
I am 41 and never had a themed party. I didn’t know I needed a peacock ferry one until right now. Riding the Vashon ferry and peacocks are two of my favorite things, now and when I was a kid. But I don’t think I will look nearly as cute on the invite.
You definitely need a peacock ferry party for your next birthday!
Peepcocks! I died. 😀
I’m also cracking up that Troy is using a back board! #emslife
The one item I can’t live without in my kitchen is my husband. Bless that man, he does 99% of all the cooking, baking, and I am well fed.
Ohhh, what a great thing to have in your kitchen!
Yep, he uses that backboard for so many projects. He loves to repurpose.
What is one item in your kitchen that you can’t live without? Oh boy, I took this a little too literally – I can’t live without the food in my kitchen. A good set of quality, very, very sharp knives is essential. I don’t do a lot of cooking but I’m always using my knives.
Sharp knives are totally essential!