Weeks

It's been weeks. Nonstop craziness for weeks. I have one more week of actual going to work, and then things get just as crazy or crazier, even though I'm technically out of work for summer break. In June, I'm doing a teaching internship and taking a law class and finishing the administration internship (which I really need to stop whining about because it's pretty much over except for 3 more written assignments. I'll stop now. Officially.) All of this will happen and possibly leave me in a tailspin by July. BUT in July...the beach awaits with Will and my best friends/fam and a fun trip with my old pal Flakey Thomas to D.C. It's been a while since Flakey and I have been road tripping. Luckily, we will just be taking this trip up rather than across the country and so it should be obstacle-free. I don't know why but driving up seems less daunting than driving across. No logic. Just seems that way.

In other news...the chickens in the backyard are growing. I'll post pictures one day. The plants in Will's garden are growing. Seriously. 6 foot tomato plants. WHAT!? I know, very exciting, right? The custodian at school told me I should can them. Well, I lie. She really said that most people just freeze stuff now. I think I want to learn to can though because how cool would it be to look in the pantry which is currently filled with rows and rows of Hunts canned tomatoes (which are possibly from heaven) and see my own jars of canned tomatoes? I might have to try it. Will's honey bees have deformed wing syndrome. I don't really know that it's called a syndrome. It might be deformed wing virus? ailment? pox? I can't remember, but their wings are deformed. This isn't fabulous.

And the biggest announcement of all (not pregnant)...we have decided to be a paper towel-free house. BIG news, huh? I know, not so much. But it actually is a huge adjustment. Yesterday while making the umpteenth batch of salsa in the food processor, I had no idea how to clean up the spilled salsa that always escapes through the hole in the middle of the bowl where the blade goes. So, I just stood there and stared at tomato juice running all over, unsure what to do. I figured it out, but still it was weird to not grab a paper towel. But we use way too many and it's just dumb when we could use cloths and just wash them. So, we hit up Bed Bath and Beyond and found flour sacks which will do the trick I think. Thank goodness for consumerism, right? Just think, had the big box store not been right around the corner, I might STILL have tomato juice on my food processor today. Amazing, right? And if you come to my house, I'll give you a cloth napkin instead of a paper towel to wipe the salsa off your chin! This is funny to me. Growing up my family always used cloth napkins. The parents still do, and it's just how it is. Friends would come over, and my mom would hand them a cloth napkin and they'd be all, "What is this?" because at their houses it was paper towels. Duh, right!? I clearly opted for paper towels too as a grown up because of the laundry issue (meaning I don't want more laundry than already), but I've given it up and will just deal with washing napkins and cleaning cloths because it will decrease the pile of paper towels I throw away daily. But then...water. I'm going to use more water. Is that bad or good? Who knows? I need an environmentalist to weigh in. Help? Robin, where are you?

Dear Food-Making Company,

I realize this salutation sounds stupid, but at the moment I can't think of the right word. Food Industry? Food Corporation? Either way, my audience is the companies that make food that is sold in grocery stores. Not the farmers, but the industry of food makers. That sounds good. Now, you know who I'm talking to.

Here's what I want. I want there to be some type of food that actually tastes good that does not have ALL of the following: partially hydrogenated oil of any kind, high fructose corn syrup, trans fat, cholesterol, saturated fat, a ridiculous amount of calories, enriched flours, and even the random dust/trash/allergens that I'm going to assume build up on all those conveyor belts carrying my pudding cups, jars of peanut butter, and bags of goldfish to the truck headed for the store. What I want is a pudding cup that has about 60 calories and NONE of that other junk. It can have fat even, but really please nothing with the word hydrogenated or high fructose in front of it. Please. Thanks.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how I have to wear a bathing suit in front of people in about 8 weeks. Though I look just like I did last year, I just feel compelled to mentally prepare. So...I've been going to spinning classes in addition to the regular running/weight lifting, eating carrots, and not eating fries. I miss fries. I've also halted all cupcake baking (though I have to make some for a birthday this weekend and will have to dig deep to resist. ugh in advance.) SO to curb my post-dinner sweet tooth, my latest concoction has been a pudding cup (dark chocolate preferably) and a blob (or 3) of fat free cool whip. Stir that up and you can just about fool yourself into thinking you are eating pie out of a coffee cup. I don't know why I have to eat this out of a coffee cup, but I do. Well...this has been a sort of okay sweet-tooth fix (I mean, it's not ice cream or a Milky Way, right?) until tonight. At the store today, I got more pudding cups and cool whip so I'd be armed for the week. I just took a look at the ingredients on both and almost cried. The cool whip, fat free or full fat, is just not good. BOTH H-words are on the list. Hydrogenated AND High Fructose. OMG. SOB! The pudding is more bearable with only Hydrogenated. But still, this is a little tragic. Now I'm back to not having a fix for my after-dinner need for fake pie. Arg. What am I going to do?

I know there are other options--actually eating a piece of real dark chocolate (duh) or maybe plain jello or maybe a piece of fruit. But see, here's what's up with that. I eat fruit all day and veggies. I actually meet the fruit/vegetable/grain requirements for the day. If I was on a V8 commercial, there'd be a 10 over my head. ALL I want is something that tastes like it's bad for me (like PIE), but it can't actually be bad for me (aka FAKE pie). Is that too much to ask? Can someone invent that for me, please?

Today While Running

I almost stepped on a dead snake (still fresh though) on the side of the road. Then, I almost had full-on cardiac arrest because I was already climbing a hill and that plus the suddenly dead snake in my path pretty much leads to me almost dead in the street. I survived though. Whew.

Ch ch ch changes

Lots of changes!

discoveries

Likes in no particular order.


borrowed from: http://loveyourchaos.tumblr.com/



Borrowed from: http://www.sheddingit.com/



borrowed from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aranandjennie/1450443166/

I Heart Cuppycakes!

I stole the title of this post from another blog. http://iheartcuppycakes.com/

Just borrowing it really, for this one little post!

I've been making cupcakes again because I had two really good excuses--a holiday and a birthday!

Easter was a lovely coconut cupcake.




A link to the recipe is here: http://pinkparsleycatering.blogspot.com/2010/03/bb-coconut-cupcakes.html

For a friend's birthday, Oreo cupcakes! Yum!





And the recipe for this deliciousness can be found here: http://annies-eats.com/2009/01/10/oreo-cupcakes/

After looking at my pictures and then looking at the pics of the cakes on these websites, I have realized something. I really need a better camera. ASAP!

Ponds, Chickens, Dentists, and Other Things

Major updates on the pond. It holds water now, which is lovely and yellow thanks to the pollen. No fish yet, but there are some water lilies in the water. Now, we wait for them to grow. Here are a few shots of the progress.





Took those two shots with a great iphone app, Hipstamatic. If you have an iphone, you should check it out.






Now, on to the chickens. They are growing and getting feathers and becoming quite funny. Here's a little clip of Lily herding them. She has a love/hate relationship with the chickens, but I think they think she is their mama. It's just a little bit cute. Also notice, the deck in the background. More pics of that to come.



And dentists. I have been going to the same dentist for the last four years. I dread the dentist and have had some ridiculous experiences at the dentist. I've posted about the dentist before. I tried to search for it but can't find it. If you can find it, good job. So, for the last four years...the same dentist. Every time I go to the dentist, the dental hygienist tries to scrape my gums off and makes me hurt for the rest of the day. Then she wraps up with a big lecture on how I need to floss more because I have gingivitis and that's like an infection in your bloodstream. She even says crazy things about how my teeth are going to fall out or that I'm going to have to get plastic teeth. Okay, so if you know me, you have probably heard me talk about this lady and how much I LOATHE the experience of going to the dentist. Two visits ago, she started lecturing, and I almost lost it. Because see, here's the thing...I floss every day and use Listerine for the whole 30 seconds two times a day, and I so don't have gingivitis. I know this, not because I'm a dental hygienist, but because I have a brain and a mirror, and I look at my teeth all the time. So, after I sort of hollered about it a little, she told me I should start coming in for a 3rd cleaning each year. So, I went in for an extra cleaning because even though I know my teeth are fine, I fall for these things. Gullible much? During this cleaning visit, she was so awful, kind of like I was ruining her day because she had to deal with me. SO...this week I went to a new dentist. He was fabulous! (so far) I told him all about how I have this terrible tartar problem and blah blah blah, and I realized that he was looking at me like I was stupid. Not just because this crazy redheaded girl was carrying on in his dentist chair either! He confirmed that my teeth are fine and my gums are fine and that I needed to calm the heck down. The dental hygienist at this office was kind of watching this conversation from afar and had a smirk, but she even chipped in to tell me that I was totally normal compared to everyone she sees. All I can say is...it's about damn time! When I was in high school, one of the only dentists in Woodruff (how many were there?) asked me if I did crack. Yes, crack. Uh huh, crack. I was 17 and was like, "Whhaaaat!?" Apparently drinking coffee will make your teeth look like you are a crack addict. Who knew?