meditations

Well friends, here we are at the last few minutes of March 6, 2013 (so last minute, this will probably post on March 7). I have survived yet another anniversary with... little wear and tear.
I miss our pretty girl just like every other day and her birthday will probably always be a day that messes me up a little inside, but there were things that were especially hard and especially easy about this birthday.
I can count my blessings and still wish the little miss was here.

One of the things I have really been... thinking on this last couple of weeks is if I am acting in ways that are aligned with my values. This started to come to a pass when Pete and I took a "finance class" called bootstraps. It was not your typical money class where you discuss income versus expenses equal dispensable income sort of thing. This class spent a lot of time talking about what your values and goals are. Finally, about halfway through the class, they introduce the fact that your values and goals should align with how you spend your money.
To me, it was more of a stress relief technique. If your actions are in line with your values, your life is more at peace and less stressful. When they are not, the term is Cognitive dissonance ("Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance etc." http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html)

Well my friends, there has been some dissonance in my life as of late. And... a lot of stress. It has at times seemed to come at me from all sides, making it rather difficult to conclude how to stop it, and what action to take first.
My top 5 values are, in no particular order: Relationships, Peaceful & serene environments, service to others, creativity, and courage. 
So I am meditating on what areas are in dissonance and how I can act more towards those values, putting those 5 things first and relieving... the DISSONANCE (I like how the word even has an ominous sound to it... dissonance...). 
In the meantime I have been enjoying a song on the Mumford and Sons Babel album, so here it is, for your listening pleasure:

And, for those of you who like to know what they are saying through the mumbly parts... (or like me, always hear it just a little different and then your hubby laughs at you for messing it up)
You were cold as the blood through your bones
And the light which led us from our chosen homes
Well I was lost

And now I sleep
Sleep the hours and that I can't weep
When all I knew was steeped in blackened holes
I was lost

Keep the earth below my feet
For all my sweat, my blood runs weak
Let me learn from where I have been
Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn
Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn

And I was still
I was under your spell
When I was told by Jesus all was well
So all must be well

Just give me time
You know your desires and mine
So wrap my flesh in ivy and in twine
For I must be well

Keep the earth below my feet
For all my sweat, my blood runs weak
Let me learn from where I have been
Oh keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn
Oh keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn

Keep the earth below my feet
For all my sweat, my blood runs weak
Let me learn from where I have been
Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn
Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn

Songwriter(s):Edward James Milton Dwane, Winston Aubrey Aladar Marshall, Benjamin Walter David Lovett, Marcus Oliver Johnstone Mumford
Copyright:Universal Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics from <a href="http://www.elyrics.net">eLyrics.net</a>

So, this week, that is the concentration over here. Keep the earth below my feet... let me learn from where I have been. Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn..."
Who knows what that means as far as long term planning for me. But as it comes along, I will keep you updated :)

Also, I joined a website called the dayzero project. I have started a list of 101 things I would like to do in 1001 days. Some are simplistic, others are something I would like to make a more regular habit. I have not quite gotten to 101 yet, but I will post the full list for you to follow along with once I get it all down. Also, you can take a look at their project here: dayzeroproject.com

My fancy new dining set...

When we moved into our place in November, we debated over whether we needed a  dining room table. We ended up choosing to put my handmade kitchen island, in the small corner of the small kitchen that designated it an "eat-in kitchen." It fit there quite perfectly, and between appliances and cooking messes, I have been SO thankful for the extra counter space. Without that corner of the kitchen free, there wasn't a very logical place to fit a table.

We have had a dining room table on and off throughout our marriage and it had never been a priority for us. We are not sit at the table kind of people, so in our often small houses, it has seemed silly to have one.

However, this cute little puppy:

Has turned into a steely eyed, 50 pound, hungry girl who is far to solid to have to push her off you as you try to eat at the coffee table... So we came to the conclusion that we needed a dining room table, whether we had room or not, it was time to make room!

We were most fortunate that sitting in our backyard was... you guessed it! a dining room table. It had been cast off by the family as we were moving and while we didn't want it, a friend committed to take it off our hands and never did. So its been sitting in our yard all winter with us wondering what to do with it. I had ambitions of a patio table after a refinish and lots of polyurethane, but after shoving the dog off me during a meal once again, I set my sights on an inside table. So we shifted our living room furniture around a bit and found a corner for it.

The before picture. Its a solid oak table that is sturdy and was FREE, but that dated golden oak finish had to go.

Another before of the table and the monsters. Our older dog is not so food obsessed, but the puppy has some awful manners when it comes to people food.

"I was thinking of chalkboarding the top...." I had told Pete as we sat on our couch brainstorming ideas. "Yes, let's do that." He responded, and within minutes we were on our way to the trusty ace hardware store.After a few laps around the hardware store, I opted for a flat black finish on the bottom.

Here is the base of the table after one coat of black. With all the grooves and curves, I had to brush it on, which meant more coats, but the paint went on more easily than I expected... that first coat always looks sooo bad!

First coat of chalkboard paint. This we rolled on with a 3/8" thick nap just like the rustoleum chalkboard paint directions said to.

Here is the base after coat 2. still pretty streaky, but a significant improvement.

In all, we did 3 coats of black and 2 pretty thick coats of chalkboard to get a result I was quite happy with.

The instructions had us wait for 3 days to do anything with the chalkboard paint. I think that was the hardest part of the process. We were both ready to draw on it! To make sure that we did not cheat and start early (and risk ruining the finish), we just didn't buy chalk until the third day.

Once we hit that mark, I had to condition the chalkboard paint, by giving it a though coating of chalk all over it.

I did this just by turning a stick of white chalk on its side and coloring in the whole top.

This process made me a little nervous about the end result because there was some definite texture to the paint finish that really came out by scraping the chalk on it. But once I wiped it off, you couldn't tell and it looked great!

At this point, I had to head off to work and Pete was home for the afternoon enjoying some free time. While I was gone, him and some friends clearly enjoyed the new furniture addition because when I came home, every INCH of the top had chalk drawings... We had a futurama theme with nearly everyone from the cartoon drawn out, as well as a Colorado flag, a sunset.... 

I had no idea our friends were all such artists! But you know what they say, you give some men a box of multicolored chalk and...

Okay, that is definitely not a saying.

I hate to erase it, but I guess that is why it is done in chalk, so there can be a new masterpiece every couple of days.

Next project is some placemats so we don't mess up the nice refinish with dinner dishes....

I would love to hear what projects you are working on right now: whether it be for your work, your humble abode, your sweetheart (it is valentine's day afterall)... I definitely feel like we all need some creativity in our lives to keep things from getting too repetitive. Tell me what you are working on now... or would like to be working on soon!

And as always, Happy crafting my friends!

Lia

Wild Wednesday: Pete's birthday adventure!

On January 15, my dear husband turned 29. A week or so before this, I asked him what he wanted for his birthday. He had trouble answering... and when he came up with an answer, it was something far more complicated and technical in his realm for me to easily purchase for him.

So, he told me instead, that he just wanted my time... He wanted to be able to go on an adventure, to spend time as a couple, to enjoy each other's company.

I responded by giving him a surprise adventure to the mountains.
We started with a night at a bed and breakfast just south of Divide, CO called the Stonehaven Inn.We were in the "Asian" room. So we took corny pictures with the decor...

After an evening of hot tubbing and making fondue in our room, it was time for the real adventure! So we spent a gorgeous day hiking in Mueller State Park. This gets lengthy, but is mostly very scenic pictures, I'll keep my narration brief.

Ready for adventure!

We consulted the map... A LOT. But we got to all the places we wanted to.

Look at this crazy rock!

I promised you beautiful scenary.

While consulting our "pikes peak atlas" map the night before, we noticed a number of historical buildings marked in the park. This one was notated as "Worley Ranch."

Another historical building.

Exploring inside.

I don't think this is remnants of the historical cowboy meal.

Well if this isn't the most ornate door plate you have ever seen, please email me pictures of yours... because I am intrigued. But, remember this one is a hundred years old or so.

Looking a little more tired than at the beginning. We had hiked about 8 miles by this point.

So there you have it, folks! We had a fantastic time and I hope you enjoyed a brief view into our adventure time. Hopefully there will be many more to come!

Menu Monday: organized for a busy, healthy eating week

Hello my lovely friends!

It has been forever since I wrote a post (I feel like I have been starting 70% of my blog posts with that), but I am determined to make it up to you with a glance at this week's menu.

Pete and I went on vacation to California over Christmas and yet, despite it now being FEBRUARY, are in some ways still recovering. Because after 6 days off, we both had to jump right back in with work and there was extra cleaning from being gone, and Pete's birthday, and more work...

That is to say, our menu planning has been... unfortunate. The meals we have had at home have been mostly thanks to my freezer prep of 15 meals in early December, but we have taken to lots of last minute trips to the grocery, takeout, delivery, and other less than ideal options.

But, I used this weekend to try and get back on track, and I have some excellent meals planned for this week. The kitchen is clean, the dishes are (mostly) done, and we are ready for another busy week of work and fun.

This week's recipes are half from pinterest / blogs I read regularly, and half from old favorites in the household. I have really been searching out meals that are more whole ingredients, and have starting perusing vegan recipes... not because I am about to give up all animal products, but because I feel like Pete and I could both benefit from recipes that are more vegetable and vegetable protein, and less meat, cheese, and butter.

Monday: we are having a meatless Monday with Apple Parsnip soup and a kale and brussels sprouts salad .
I am looking forward to a vegetable dense meal after a long inventory day at work. I think I will add some white beans to the soup for a little boost of protein in the soup. Pete and I love brussels sprouts and I am excited for this uber healthy, green salad

Tuesday: I am pulling a chicken pot pie out of the freezer. That is not to say that we bought some freezer aisle, preservative laden pot pie. A month or so ago, I found a recipe for pot pies that made two. So we made up one for dinner that night and one to put in the freezer for later. The recipe is from a "freezer cooking" magazine I got in November. Perhaps if I keep up with this blogging thing, I may post it soon...

Wednesday: Good ole' fashioned pot roast. We have a roast in the freezer, we have onions and carrots and potatoes in the fridge... Just throw them all together and you have Pete's favorite dinner.

Thursday: Another new recipe from menshealth.com. I found this one through a list of whole food crockpot recipes and I am excited to try it. Pete and I both love lamb, and curry though I am often limited on the curry side since I am allergic to coconut. So imagine my excited surprise when this lamb curry recipe contained no coconut milk!

Friday: Thai peanut noodles. A vegan recipe that looks super enjoyable, and quick to make!

Saturday: Tuna Casserole. A dish that was once a subject of nightmares (choking down a whole mouthful of things I didn't like just because I was at a friends house and my mom wasn't there to save me) became a recipe of interest in college when I tried a friends mom's version and I have been thinking about it ever since... Browsed a number of recipes to find this one that doesn't have any condensed soup in it: Martha Stewert's tuna casserole

Sunday: keeping it simple with pork green chile and quesadillas. I made up what turned out to be a HUGE batch of green chile after I went to the chile festival in Pueblo with my parents in late August. (early september?) Its delicious an another recipe that... maybe should I be habitual with this blogging thing, I will post at a later date.

So that's the plan! And who knows what may come up, but it is nice to have a plan for dinner for all 7 nights and adjust as needed when things come up. I am not doing much prep for any of these recipes but instead kept to pretty simple. Tonight, I will prep everything for tomorrow's soup and the salad dressing... and that is really all the work I need to do for Monday and Tuesday's meals. Since I close Wenesday and Thursday, I have some prep time built into my morning.

Building a weekly meal plan and doing a little extra prep during the weekend has really helped us to keep from falling into the "call the delivery guy" plan b that everyone secretly has. Since I eat restaurant food everyday as my meal break, I feel especially bad about going out during the week because restaurant food inevitably has more sodium, fat, calories and is more expensive than the make at home counterpart.

What do you do to help you enjoy healthy meals at home throughout busy weeks?

recipe? what's that????

Tonight for dinner we had eggplant parmigiana (I was just going to call it "parmesan" but blogger marked that as incorrect spelling and suggested "parmigiana" instead. Fancy). It was dreamy.

I don't have a picture. After a day of playing GM and a dog walk and cooking dinner, I was so starving that the plate was half empty before I considered that I might write a blog about it.

"What's so great about eggplant parm," you may find yourself asking... Well, it is delicious. The eggplant looked glorious at the grocery yesterday and I decided it needed to be served. It's crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle. I am completely infatuated by it, despite 8+ years working almost solely in Italian food which has left me generally turned off by a lot of things involving garlic, basil, tomato sauce or pasta. "Please can we have pizza?" Pete will beg. "I had pizza for lunch... again..." I will sigh.

"Wow Lia, I'm totally sold, give us the recipe!!!"

And that brings me to the real subject of this blog. I feel like the most frustrating thing I do as a cook is pay hardly any attention to what I put into a meal in order to make it turn out well. I didn't get far enough in my culinary education to tell you why things work for me... but most often, they just do. I've never in my life used a 5 ingredient recipe because even if I did, I would open up my spice drawer and throw in some other stuff (that should work out well). You know those blogs that you read with a fabulous recipe and as you scroll through the comments, you find that comment (you know the one I am talking about, there is at least one on EVERY recipe posted online, ever). It reads something like, "This is such a great recipe!!! I just.... (and then they list 17 changes and substitutions and why they made them) and it turned out amaaaazing! This is the best recipe for ______ EVER!)

Those people bug me. Me! Who is admitting to being... less than great at following recipes (except when my career depended on it. I have never altered a company recipe while on the clock, but I did learn to cook in a commercial kitchen that would often just list the ingredients and describe the process and let me go at it.) But if I were to post a comment below a recipe I try it would probably look like this. "Great recipe. I didn't really measure, I made some adjustments, I was out of a couple of ingredients so I switched them.... I can't really remember what I did, but it turned out awesome. Thanks for the inspiration."

We eat great around here. But could I tell you how to do it at your own home? Probably not. Could I make it exactly the same again... eh, probably not. I feel snobby saying that cooking just comes naturally to me. Its funny that even genetically, it is kind of half and half who could cook because of a lot of concentration and science to make things work and who just threw things together. I grew up around both. My dad's mom, cooked with recipes. Everything I can remember from her kitchen was awesome and wonderful (case in point, hot fudge pudding cake, mmm). But looking back at her procedure, there was always a recipe propped up in her recipe book holder. I possess her "Joy of Cooking" now and there are handwritten notes where she adjusted some recipes for high altitude. "Oh grandmom..." I think, "I have never taken such efforts to adjust for altitude, nor have I had a problem. What's the big deal?" (She did live about 1,000 feet higher from sea level than I do... that could be something) I admired her cooking as much as I admired her organized recipes and cookbooks. That I still aspire to. But since I don't really use them, it is hard to be motivated to organize them. And then there is my other grandma. My mom's mom. I've never seen her use a recipe. Ever. I can remember one particular visit to her house and enjoying chicken fingers with honey mustard for lunch, pancakes and waffles in the morning... never a recipe. Never even a break in the flow of the conversation as she mixed and heated and created and served... I gained experience in both. I started in a couple of kitchens in Fort Collins during college where chefs just kind of shouted imprecise instructions at me while doing something completely different. But at home I used recipes to become familiar with the things I wanted to cook. At school I learned about getting nutritional information for recipes, costing recipes... And I moved to places like the Olive Garden and a 5 star 5 diamond hotel where everything was a carefully formulated recipe that was expected to be followed to the letter. I never cooked at the O.G. though. And at that hotel, they referred to measurements but did not provide very many implements with which to measure. And since I didn't carry them in my knife bag (where I was expected to bring any sort of instrument I may need to complete my shift), I kinda... fudged some of those.

So back to tonight. I thought the tomato sauce was amazing. I made it from scratch. But that was... a month or so ago for a night of spaghetti and meatballs. (the leftover has been in the freezer since) I remember that I pureed it because I used like... every vegetable that was about to be trash in my fridge. I think there were tomatoes, onions, maybe some mushrooms, some squash of some kind.... I added canned tomatoes (or maybe tomato paste, I remember having some leftover about that time), broth? and some spices... maybe some basil from our garden? I don't know. I wish I could clone it. Or at least make it again.

Pete mentioned that this version of eggplant was particularly good. Well, it was a good one from the produce section. But I also didn't have enough breadcrumbs to use them solely. I added nutritional yeast and hemp seeds to supplement. I only used a dip in egg whites to help the coating stick, not the traditional flour, egg, breadcrumb procedure I usually follow simply out of laziness.

But then, by the time we ate, I was starving and I think he was too. Maybe that is all it was.

Its hard to be sure. I wish I could give someone the recipe so they could try it out and let me know how it is really.

But alas! The recipe does not exist. Like so many others that have been delightfully invented and carried out in my home, it is just a figment of a full belly and many a conversation until I make the next "best eggplant parmesan ever."

September so far in pictures

Its been busy busy busy around here!!!! I'm happy to report that its a productive kind of busy, but unfortunately, blog posts have been in the BACK of my mind.

So to get back into the swing of things, I figured I would just start with a little picture update:

our wine that we made in May has now "aged" and is being enjoyed. its turned out great!

We got to go to a "princess party" for our favorite 5 year old. I made a Repunzel cake, which turned out even better than I would have hoped!

the boys embraced the princess, "repunzel" theme.

Or maybe Tavis just likes the feeling of having hair again. (They both may kill me for posting these. At least you have photos of the suspects)

Princess Reece had quite the birthday...

And then it was just another week of work before it was time to celebrate my birthday.

And celebrate we did.

To start: A double birthday / congrats on finishing externship party with my friend Tanya.

She did all the decorating, food providing, hostessing, and inviting. 

She even made us these fun glasses to use for our cocktails for the evening

The boys mostly just played video games

The dogs wanted to be involved in the fun!

All I had to do was provide a cake

It was not as fancy as Reece's, haha.

Our friend Katie, decided we needed to have candles for every year of BOTH of our lives.

So 52 it was!

We didn't set off any smoke detectors.

Mostly, we just hung out and drank fun cocktails.

For that reason, Saturday was kind of a day of recovery...

But Sunday was Funday!!!

I woke up pretty early to Pete jumping out of bed, insisting I sleep in while he take care of some things.

And magically during that time, the house got cleaned!

We had lunch and relaxed before going to our friends.

They have kids and a baby and puppies so its always a riot. 

We helped give the puppies a bath

Reece helped dry

and cuddle

Here is my favorite:

Her name is Lola and I think she is pretty much the second most awesome dog ever (sorry, you can't overtake Ursa's awesomeness in 5 short weeks, little)

I'm in love.

So now we are house hunting for a place we can bring little miss home to.

Oh! and I got presents!

Because of Pete and I's love of board games, he found me a completely customizable monopoly board! Its awesome. I feel a ton of pressure to make it amazing though, so I am having trouble coming up with a theme. I'm thinking of going history of town nerd style on it. The more I learn about our fair home town, the more impressed I am.

He also got me this little beauty to protect my poor, abused coolpix. 

Last but not least for the birthday weekend was dinner with the parents. 

My parents and Pete's mom made it out to our favorite sushi place and we got to celebrate with all of them. 

And... yes, there was another cake.

Some boston creme deliciousness.

And a few more much appreciated gifts.

Oh and the Broncos won. I'm not a huge football kind of girl, but I can get behind that.

And now, here we are at the 10th of September having already had quite the month!

I think it will continue to be good. 

P.S. I am happy to report that despite half my post being about how much cake has been involved in TEN days, I am not yet... like huge from it. But I am going through this thinking that maybe, just maybe, some gym time would be a good idea.

Hope everyone else is having a great month too!