Tastefully Tuesday? Tuesday Tidbits

As you know, I'm not good with creating catchy post titles.  I wanted to blog today, and I'm feeling kinda random, so that doesn't help much with the title creation. It's Tuesday is maybe the post title I should have used.

In any case, I'm a bit worn out mentally lately. This is due to Anna.

(Anna on the hay ride at the Crane Creek Vineyard Tomato Fest--where we didn't see any tomatoes but we, tom and I, drank some good wine.)

 

 

Okay so back to the Anna issue.  The girl has developed a major school anxiety.  She makes herself upset enough to throw up every morning. Today she cried her way into staying home.  I was at a Tri-State Business Women's meeting, so she was with The Man. When I finished my meeting I went home, and after much crying by Anna and much cajoling by me she went to school.  Albeit two and a half hours late, but she did go to school.  I imagine now you have a few questions:

1. Is she being bullied?

2. Is she sick?

3. Is she struggling with the work?

 

No. no bully.  I'm fairly well-versed in bullies due to Patrick and Bryce having dealt with them in previous school years.  She sits with three other kids and likes all of them. Kaitlyn is her 'best friend' and she has a crush on the little boy that sits next to her.  She likes the school lunches and when we were there last night for the Teacher Open House she ran off and played on the playground with some other girls and didn't want to go home.

 

Is she sick?  It's possible. However, she isn't crying and saying her stomach hurts on Saturday or Sunday mornings, only school days. That is why I've concluded that it's anxiety, not a virus. The Man still thinks a virus is a possibility.

 

 

The workload seems fine, she isn't crying about the work.  This morning she said:

 

1. She misses me.

2. She is afraid that I or her dad might die during the day while she is at school.

3. She is afraid that someone will break into our house and steal our dogs.

 

Sounds like some general anxiety, don't you agree? In any case, mornings are tough right now. I'm a bit at a loss on what to do, I thought it would have gotten better by now since it is the third week of school. Additionally, yesterday Patrick was all upset about going to school. On the bright side,  I am used to his dislike of school and his constant efforts to 'get' to stay home 'sick'.  Anna was the one who loved school. Now, not so much.

 

This means that next Tuesday I may have a real struggle on my hands.  Who wants to go back to their job after a 3 day weekend? No one. Most kids feel the same way about school.



MMMmmm meal pics...

Temps have been dropping down into the 50s at night. So although,  it's still August, I went ahead and made some chili last night for Miss Anna.  Anna has been feeling pretty nervous and anxious about her new school, so if a little chili for dinner puts a smile on her face...well then.

 

Here is 1 pound of ground turkey with 3 tbsps of our Wahoo! Chili Mix. Yes that is my Pampered Chef mixer thingy; it's great for mashing up stuff.  Oh! I also added 1 tbsp of Garlic Garlic.

Next I added tomatoes and beans.  Anna loves beans especially butter beans, so I always add a can of butter beans to our chili.  I went with a small can of diced tomatoes but later on I found that it needed more tomato-ness, so I chopped up 2 fresh tomatoes and added them.  Why fresh tomatoes?  Because they were getting ready to go bad, so I was glad to get them used up. In a perfect world I think I would have just used the 28oz can of diced tomatoes that is sitting in my cabinet.

In addition to the tomatoes and the beans I like to add some fresh vegetables. What vegetables?  That is determined by what I have in the refrigerator.  Last night,  I went with one diced green pepper and 3 stalks of celery chopped.

Celery, my old cutting board, and the very dated kitchen cabinets in our kitchen.

Look at those pretty colors! Then I added about 1/2 cup chicken broth and let it all simmer for 20ish minutes.

And here we have Anna's Chili.  With Wahoo! Chili, it's an amazingly easy dish to make.  I should have just had Anna make dinner.  Chili is also pretty forgiving, you don't need to worry too much about the ingredient measurements.

When I really love it a book...

You know how you hear people say, "I loved XYZ book, I couldn't put it down!" I do the same thing myself. If I like a book, I'll blaze through it pretty doggone fast.

But if I love a book, it takes me ages to finish.  I put it down, I walk away for a few weeks, I resist the siren calls.  Super counter intuitive, right? 

Here's the thing, when I love a book, I don't want it to end, I don't want to say goodbye to the characters. I miss them, life get drab. Coming from me, there is no higher praise I can give a book than to say, it took me a long time to finish it.

Up Jumps The Devil took me ages to finish.  I loved it, no wait I floved it.  I hated having to say goodbye to John Scratch. Michael Poore did such a fantastic job of  giving the devil his due.  Oh sorry about that cliche, I tried not to go there, but I had no control.  The devil made me do it. Alright, I'm done.

I cannot more highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys flawed protagonists.  Michael has really created a fantastically sympathetic anti-hero.

 He takes a bit from old tales of the Devil (ie Robert Johnson, The Devil and Daniel Webster, etc) and does something amazing. The Devil has such hope for humanity and we let him down again and again. 

The book begins with Satan as the host of a Reality Show and then moves forward and backward through time in dreams and memories and current moments. I let that sit with you a moment, Satan is the host of a wildly successful reality TV show.  How perfect is that.

From the opening pages where The Devil is shot we follow him through a timeless love affair he has with an Angel and the love affair Satan has with humanity. 

Up Jumps The Devil is a love story, a history lesson, and a road trip story wrapped up in a leather duster smelling of pipe smoke.

And the ending is wonderfully satisfying. 

Curious?  Want my copy?  Too bad, you can't have it, I'm going to keep it--and I don't keep books.

It's available on amazon and other fine book selling establishments.

Click the book for the Amazon link.

Located in

#Wordless Wednesday Dinner Time!

1 lb cut up boneless skinless chicken breast browning in a tablespoon Roasted Garlic Infused oil. Along with 2 tbsp of our new fantastic Rustic Herb Seasoning.

Add like 3 cups chopped red potatoes and 1/2 cup chix broth and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Then add in about 2 cups chopped green beans...

2 cups chopped green beans

 

Simmer/saute for another say 8 minutes

And Dinner is done!

FourSquare you disappoint me.

FourSquare, in case you aren't aware, is an app for your smartphone and with it you 'check-in' to places and it rewards you with points.  The points are completely meaningless, and yet still I love to see my points!  There is some benefit to using FourSquare  as some businesses have specials that are only revealed when you 'check-in' via FourSquare.

On the app, people can add a location if they want to check in somewhere that doesn't already have a location.  For example I made one called:  "The Hamel Lakehouse." 

It should come as no surprise that people try to be funny and/or creative in naming places.  My Big Comfy Bed is a place you could check into by our old house in Hickory Hills.  Out here in Western North Carolina, you don't even need to come up with funny name because long ago, the forefathers of this area went to great lengths to give  the surrounding mountains, valleys and roads funny and/or creative names. The best are funny at the 6th grade immature boy level.
You may recall a while back, I posted a picture of Peckerwood Road, which is located right by a golf course. This is a popular street sign to steal, natch.  However there is an even better area around here, and I wanted to 'check in' from it on FourSquare. Much to my dismay,  it isn't listed as a spot to check into via the app.

  FourSquare, you've let me down how could you *not* have Smackass Gap listed!

Yes that's right Smackass Gap, see it's right there.  I am sure there is some story that goes along with the name probably something about a stubborn mule, but who cares!

Baby you're a Firework!

Dear Sir or Madam:
Thanks ever so much for the fireworks show last night. When I went to bed at midnight, fireworks right outside my backyard at 1AM were certainly the last thing on my mind.

It was super thoughtful of you to wait until 1AM to have your show. What a great way to ensure everyone around you would wake up and pay attention to the noise and lights, I know I did!

Thanks again for your amazing display of thoughtfulness! Our dogs went crazy during your show!

All the best!
Victoria

Ps if it happens again tonight, I will hunt you down.

#Wordless Wednesday Wine!

Sat we went to a local Winery.  Lovely place. Lovely wine.
Here's the stream next to the grapes and a bit of Patrick.

The boys and one of the owner's dogs.

Cabernet Franc Grapes.

Eagle Forks Vineyards Chardonnay. Yum.

Why am I on linkedin?

I was filling out a form to join a blogging network and one of the required pieces of info was my linkedin profile.  When I went over to Linkedin, which I hardly ever do, I realized I have been on there since 2007.

Do you know what that means?  Five years of not knowing what the point of being on Linkedin. Are you Linkedin?  If so can you please tell me what I am supposed to do on there?  Why am I there? Anyone know?

A while back I went on to my profile and on the right hand side it said "link your resume to complete your profile." So I did, and guess what, apparently that is a generic message because all of a sudden my profile had all my career info listed 3 times. Even then my profile sits at 90% complete.

Linkedin also keeps telling me to add another email address to my profile. I refuse. Why does it keep asking?  Facebook doesn't bug me for multiple email addresses. 

How about you?  On Linkedin?  Profile Complete?

It's Friday. I don't care.

Hey how's it going?  Got big plans for the weekend?  Got any plans?  Nah, I don't, in fact, I'm having a sucky day. Here are a couple low lights.
1. I spilled coffee all over the paperwork I filled out to register the kids for school.  I also spilled it on my planner and on a couple of birth certificates (part of the whole registering kids for school process).
2. I couldn't get new paperwork and register the kids for school because I didn't have my electric bill.  See apparently there is something called your 911 Address and that is on your electric bill.  I don't know what the difference is, but I didn't have that paper.  It was around 12:15pm when I was trying to get this done, so I said I'd go and get the bill and come back.  However, the lady said she was getting ready to leave for the day, so I'd have to come back on Monday.

I had two thoughts on that:

Personally, I don't think it would be too much to ask to have someone that could help me if I came to register btwn the hours of 9-3pm.  *Shrug* what can you do.  I guess she had a better weekend plan than me. Secondly, I thought, man, wish that was my job, sounds pretty flexible and I am sure the benefits are nice.

The rest of the day was tedium and life with IMO Grumplstilskin. Mr. Crabby Patty. Bah, and I don't feel like making dinner.

************************************************************************
Now is the part where I try to muster up some happy thoughts.
1. I noticed that some of the men around here don't say "Thank You" to people they deal with (cashiers and whatnot) instead they say:
"I appreciate ya"
I think I really like that. Who doesn't want to be appreciated?  Nobody.  Everyone wants appreciation. In fact, I'd like appreciation more than say, a bag of chips or $20.

2. I saw a cool butterfly and it let me take it's picture:

#WordlessWednesday Next Week I'll be out of town!

A week from tomorrow is the Tastefully Simple National Conference.  I can't wait. 4 days of friends, motivation and no cleaning up after anyone. Ah...

Above is me having participated in the Shining Chef Competition at our 2009 conference.