Just Expressive

In a skillet over medium to medium high heat bring some olive oil to a ripple
add a handful, or a couple, of matchstick carrots (or some green beans, or asparagus spears)
cook while stirring with some tongs so that the veggies get evenly coated with oil
until heated through but still with some bite
remove from the oil and drain on a layer of paper towel
while still hot sprinkle with kosher salt, garlic powder, cracked black pepper and herbs de provence (or just rosemary and thyme if you prefer)
hold either side of the paper towel and use that to toss the frittes in the seasonings until coated
inhale as quickly as possible

-Apparently women in their 30’s with multiple children still show up in public with hickies on their necks.

-There are people that think it’s cool to put kids in trash cans during a baby shower and these people aren’t bullies, they are family.

-I am still the sick baby whisperer.

-For a no-bake cheesecake, this is more work than I expected but is pretty tasty IMO, especially when you add almonds to the crust and zest instead of juice to the filling.

-After a day with emotionally stunted manner-less vampires, I will fall asleep while watching tv.

-SJP and J.Lo’s hair stylists are pissed at them. SJP’s clothing stylist is also pissed at her and conspired with whoever applied her fake tanner to make it heinous.

-I am confused by Clooney’s ‘tude during the whole show.

-I am also confused by Travolta WEARING JEANS!!!

-Apparently an ex’s best revenge is with little golden statues. hahahah James Cameron got so served! I know Linda Hamilton was cackling her ass off.

-I love NPH more than ever.

-The commercial for Modern Family made me want to watch it. Good job advertisers, THAT is how you do a commercial.

-I want to be Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep when I am their age. Wowza!

-Jeff Bridges=The Dude, man.

I have a thing about birds. Not to have as a pet or anything but prints with birds, fabric with birds, bird cages….I love them all.

from Pottery Barn Kids $71-$79

Saturday we went to Costco, as a family, because clearly we have lost our ever-lovin minds. It was ridiculously crowded and I was bordering on the edge of a panic attack, feeling like a caged animal, within the first 20 minutes of being in the store. I totally hate when I can’t get to a clear spot and feel like no matter where I go, I am in someone else’s way. I hate feeling rushed when I am trying to make my purchases because someone else is breathing down my neck the whole time. Also, I hate that no one in the world seems to have any freaking manners and is also apparently BLIND. ANYWAY, we finally got out of the main madhouse (the front-ish area) and I started to calm down a bit and get into my shopping rhythm, when we entered the meat section. And there we happened upon a dirty old man.

Dirty old men LOVE ME. Disgusting but true fact that has been true my whole life since puberty. Which, really? It’s not like I have Pamela Anderson’s rack or matching hair color from a bottle or anything. Bleah. At any rate, I didn’t know he was a dirty old man when I smiled at him. I thought he was just a harmless old man who happened to be in my way and so I smiled. Wrong move. I could tell by the way he stared that I shouldn’t have done that, but it wasn’t until much later, at home, when Wills told me what he did as I passed him, that I truly realized the error of my ways. Mind you, Sprog was walking next to me when this took place. According to Wills as I passed the man, he checked out my ass AND THEN LICKED HIS LIPS. *GAG* I totally wanted a shower when he told me that.

It reminds me of the time when I was again shopping with Sprog and a man ON A FREAKING OXYGEN TANK asked me for my phone number.

I talked briefly about the diet thing the other day and asked for some feedback. We also went back to Costco yesterday, so I am trying some new things. I bought the bottles I mentioned so as of yesterday I am drinking 92 oz of water (at least) a day.

I’ve added natural organic peanut butter to my waffle routine which cuts the sweetness (WHO AM I? I used to LIVE FOR SUGAR) and adds more protein. When I finish off the peanut butter I will probably switch to a different nut butter to get a better oil.

I purchased

Pink Poetry Superfood. Costco stopped carrying the green Superfood and frankly I wasn’t that big a fan of that variety anyway. This one is less sweet and less grainy so I dig it. Hopefully they will keep carrying it so it won’t suddenly disappear on me like the last one. 100% fruit and fruit juice. High in Vitamin C. Also contains Iron and Calcium.

Organic Milled Flax

to mix with

Chobani Organic Greek Yogurt which when combined is 14 grams of Protein and 4 grams of Fiber. The yogurt is 0 % fat and 140 calories. I also add some Craisins even though it’s already got fruit on the bottom.

Next I bought snacks

Fruit Roll-ups Simply Fruit. 90% fruit and fruit juice, no high fructose corn syrup and a full serving of fruit in each one.

Two more packages of bananas. Two baby watermelons (this was Sprog’s choice).

and

String cheese.

So I am totally covered on the fruit front. Now I need work on covering my leafy green veggie front. I need to hit up the other store for some salad mixes and more frozen veggies.

On the opposite end of the “eating healthily” spectrum, there is this new place that we discovered called Smashburger and oh my hades, am I addicted. Like, we have eaten there twice in two days addicted and that is WAY TOO MUCH red meat for this girl. It’s not even that I crave the burger, it’s really good though, don’t get me wrong, it’s the veggie frittes. (and suddenly I’m drooling) The freaking veggie frittes make me CRAZY. It’s a mixture of carrots, asparagus spears and green beans, flash fried and then topped with a spice mixture. I think the secret ingredient is CRACK. CRACK FRITTES.

-I have switched to Lightroom for my photo processing needs. I don’t think most of you will care about this but there were some issues with iPhoto storage processes that Wills felt would be best sorted with Lightroom so off we went. Now we have an issue where Lightroom doesn’t automatically delete from the card after import so that’s kind of a pain.

- I am struggling with my work out motivation. A LOT. My solution is to try and walk the dogs every day, they need it and I need it. Two birds, one stone, and all that.

- I am trying to adjust my diet. I’m not trying to lose weight but I seriously never have any energy. It’s to the point that I watched Dr. Oz the other day and thought maybe I might be a person that has Epstein Barr or something…so diet first. Every morning I am having two blueberry, multi-grain, waffles topped with fresh bananas and agave syrup instead of maple syrup. That’s easy. Breakfast seems to be my easy meal. Snack I had 12 almonds. Lunch is where I am struggling so I need to get some easy to grab veggies and grains. I totally fall off the wagon here. Sometimes I forget to even eat lunch. Maybe some yogurt with ground flax or string cheese for afternoon snack? What are y’all doing? Anyone have any experience with Quinoa?

- I drank A LOT of water when I was home and my tummy felt so much better. I need to remember to do the same here. We are going to buy some nalgene bottles (there is a three pack at Costco), to have at home and for camping, which has oz right on the side. I find that I drink more when I can count them down.

- Speaking of home, I felt SO MUCH BETTER! I was starting to think that my symptoms were depression related or a sign of how much I hate being here…but I could actually feel the sinus gunge creep back into my face about 10 minutes after being outside once we were home. It was the confirmation I needed to be home when it was raining the whole time and not have one headache and then come back here and instantly feel like ass. 4 more years.

- I’m feeling the itch to be creative, but I don’t know for what. I want to do something with my hands, make something, craft something, but it hasn’t presented itself yet. I wonder what it’s going to turn out to be.

- I think we are going to get scuba certified as a family this year. I’m really excited about it.

- I made a present for my friend Jamie, for her baby shower, and I was really proud of the result. It’s a book for her baby, that’s pictures of animals with the name of the animal spelled out with Bananagrams tiles. All the pictures of the animals are pictures that I have taken in various states, so that was pretty neat too.

- We have “Whip It” in the mail today and I am stoked to watch it. I know it’s going to make me want to try out for Roller Derby though.

I signed up for formspring

http://www.formspring.me/justexpressive

So all you lurkers out there can ask me anything you want! Trolls away!

People of the world, can we discuss how stupid you are?

How do you think you can walk through a TSA check point without showing your boarding pass or ID? I am surprised he didn’t shoot you! Now they are going to make you stand there and wait while they take everyone else, to prove their point. Idiot. Wait your freaking turn, that means WHEN YOU ARE CALLED, LADY.

All liquids must be 3.4 fluid oz (the size is right there on the bottle) or smaller and fit inside your quart sized baggie TOGETHER. COMFORTABLY. Together means everything all at once. Comfortably means that the bag has to be able to close when everything is in there all at once. They sell empty travel sized bottles that you can use to transfer your items into so that you don’t hold up the fucking line, keep us in travel line purgatory and make us, those that can read and follow directions, miss our flights. By the way, I should apparently also mention that it’s ONE BAG PER PERSON, numbnuts, not ONE BAG PER ITEM. I see you carrying your military cammo jacket so you can apparently follow some directions, what happened with these? See also the size issue as full sized mouth wash and shaving cream do not follow the above regulations. I know you are at least familiar with that term.

When the TSA agents get annoyed and start repeatedly rattling off what to have out of your bags and mention toiletries? THEY DON’T MEAN MAKE-UP UNLESS IT’S A LIQUID. You don’t now have to hold me up by digging out and opening something that was fine the way it was.

Your FIVE BAGS do not qualify as TWO carry-on items. Pack that shit better or check that shit. SERIOUSLY. Also, you do not have to put all of that into a bin! YOU ARE HOLDING UP THE LINE so that your precious things don’t touch the conveyor and I’m about to drop you, some of us actually have flights to make. Which is more precious now?

Laptops must be out of your bags. ARE YOU HARD OF HEARING? They all have only said this 800 times now, across the 6 lanes of security. I am sure you have heard one of them. Lane 1 over there is completely stopped due to liquids in bags, water bottles CONTAIN LIQUIDS-SHOCKING, and LAPTOPS. Do you want to be like LANE ONE?

Oh Christ! There goes LANE THREE with a Bag Check.

DO NOT STOP AT THE END OF THE LANE TO PUT ON YOUR SHOES. STEP ASIDE. YOU ARE NOT A TODDLER OR A SMALL CHILD, I SHOULD NOT BE TRIPPING OVER YOU WHILE TRYING TO REMOVE MY THINGS.

It’s not like this stuff is new! It’s been going on for many years now (as far as regulations are concerned) and it’s not like it was one lane, there were SIX and yet, the stupid of the world somehow are completely gobsmacked and totally destroy the whole thing. Do us all a favor and either 1) LEARN or 2) DON’T FLY

The Studio Day Sofa from Cost Plus World Market, is what we are looking at for our guest room/office so that we have a bed available for guests. Right now, the only option is either our bed or the couch. Now, our couch is HUGE and can actually sleep more than one person, I even sleep on it when my migraines get bad. $319.99

So we just got home yesterday and I’ll save my rants for another day. Instead I want to talk about a question that Jamie’s husband asked me that I don’t think I answered properly or explained myself enough. It seems there is always more time on paper (or the internet) than there is in real life and our time with them was so short we were packing every moment with them so full of stuff…my brain was reeling a bit, I think.

Anway, the gist of the question was whether or not we felt that being parents had been something through which we had grown as people.

To that I say absolutely yes.

Last night I came home and my son came and sat with me. He sat in the corner of the office and shared his weekend with me. He volunteered all of this information, I didn’t have to pull it out of him and that’s how I knew that he missed me. Even though he’s gone every other weekend, so this one really was no different, the fact that I wasn’t here waiting for him Monday afternoon like normal, the fact that he knew I was stuck in an airport and then eventually on a plane had caused him worry. It’s times like these when I truly feel like I’ve done well at my job. I know that my child loves me but when he shows genuine concern for me (friends rank higher than parents at this age) and when he wants to talk to me about things, when we have real conversations instead of grunts, this parenting thing feels soul defining.

You truck along with your nose down so many days, so many milestones, so much focus that sometimes the greater picture seems like it’s so far off…so untouchable. He is his own person and his own entity but I had a part in who he has grown to be and not ONLY through mistakes and wrong doing like my parents but through actual fore-thought, intention, intuition and faith in myself. I told myself that just being 180 from my parents wasn’t enough, I made sure it was more than that and so far, that has been the right way to go.

A lot of people say that children should never have a job (ie saving a marriage, validating a parent etc) but they do have jobs in my opinion. Their job is to grow. Their job is to learn. Their job is to break out of being the manipulative little need machines they are born being. Their job is to become. It’s your job as a parent to guide. The only way to become a good guide is to do all of those same things yourself AND to know who you are leading and to know what the destination is, without doing that, everyone is lost.

Sometimes it’s little things, like telling him how to be a good house guest and sometimes, it’s big things like staying away from drugs or sexually transmitted diseases…but in all things you have to know yourself and you have to know your kid (each kid is different). I can’t think of anything that would make someone grow more.