I write things
While browsing Target for something to finally start decoration my master bedroom walls:
Cassidy: Look, this one says, “This home is filled with Happiness and Love.”
Me: Is there one that says, “This home is filled with sarcasm and farts?” Because I feel like that would be more appropriate.
Lady in the next aisle: *snorting while trying to hide laughter*
Cassidy: *shrug*
Lately I’ve been trying to find more vegetarian or vegan recipes to make at home. We haven’t cut meat completely, we still eat fish a few times a week and occasionally get chicken when out to eat, but we don’t have it at home and I found that most of my recipes had either chicken or turkey as a main ingredient so I’ve been scouring the internet to find great recipes that make everybody in the family happy.
So I came across this really delicious Thai Quinoa Salad on Foodie Crush the other day and knew from the flavor profile that we’d all LOVE it. I’m linking the original which you should ABSOLUTELY try but there are a few things I had to change because Ben can’t have onions and I can’t have cabbage. So here is my version:
Salad:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups veggie stock (to cook quinoa)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and shredded (I use a mandoline for this)
1 cucumber, de-seeded and peeled
1 cup edamame
½ cup chopped peanuts
½ cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup chopped basil
1 whole avocado, chopped
Sauce:
4 teaspoons fish sauce (my cousin told me you can get vegan fish sauce which will make this a completely vegan recipe)
3 limes, juiced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
Cook quinoa in veggie stock according to package and let cool. Add all the other salad ingredients and stir. Combine sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add to salad, stir. EAT! Tastes better when it has some time to sit and cool first and even better the next day.
I double the recipe and we have it as a main dish but it would also make an excellent side dish.
I thought I’d put together a little Mother’s Day gift guide. There are so many different types of moms out there so I just thought about things that I’d love to receive. You know your mom best! Think about what she loves to do, what her hobbies are, things that make her happy and I’m sure you’ll find her the perfect gift. Here are some ideas to get you started!
Lush Mother’s Day Gift Set ($59.95): If your mom enjoys a bath like this mom does then this will be a gift that’s put to some very good use. I try and get a bath in at least twice a week and every bath I take I use either a bath bomb or, my favorite, a bubble bar. I have been a Lush believer since my very first purchase there a few years ago and rely on them exclusively for my hair care, the majority of my skin care and ALL of my bath time perfection.
Funko Pop BB8 ($8.99): I started collecting Funko Pops awhile ago. I tried REALLY REALLY hard to resist them for over a year then I saw a Borg Locutus Pop one day when I was in Barnes and Noble and I HAD to have it. Since then I’ve been collecting them from all the geeky fandoms I love and lining them up on the half wall in my little corner of our computer loft. I also have a Sherlock Pop on my printer at work. They are just cute and make me smile.
The Bouqs Company Ladybug Arrangement ($50.00): I LOVE having fresh flowers at home. When I do my weekly grocery shopping trip I always stop by the floral department and pick out some fresh flowers for the living room and/or my bedroom. I know a lot of people think that flowers are kind of an afterthought gift but if you know they are something your mom might love then I say to go for it. Even though they are temporary, they are an awesome and delicious smelling reminder that you love her. Bouqs even offers a subscription service so if you want, you can give a gift that will last for the year!
Mug from The Hold Fastery on Etsy ($14.99): I have know Britney online for, SO MANY YEARS NOW. She was one of the very first blogs I followed regularly and it’s been really neat to watch her grow, get married, start a family and make really cool stuff! As a legitimate coffee addict, I have collected many cheeky mugs and absolutely fell in love with hers when she started selling them. I’ve already purchased this one for myself because it holds so much truth in our household. She also has some cute and witty Mother’s Day Mugs available for purchase too!
Hummingbird Feeder ($27.17): I came across HUMMINGBIRDSXOXO on Instagram the other day. She lives here in California and feeds hummingbirds every day in her back yard. She even has hand held feeders and she’s been feeding them long enough to have earned their trust so they will come perch on her hands to eat that way! Since then I’ve been hunting for new feeders to hang in my back yard and I really love these hand blown glass ones on Amazon. We already have quite a few of them that fly in to feed off the flowers in the yard so I know if we had a few dedicated feeders we’d have quite a few to watch!
General Disclaimer: None of these are affiliate links and I’m not being paid in any way for this blog post. These are all just products I really love and thought I’d share in case you all need some Mother’s Day ideas.
About a month ago I put this sticker on my car. I saw it when I was buying a Feel The Bern shirt and it made me laugh so I added it onto the order as an afterthought. I didn’t buy it intending to put it on my car, I was thinking that I’d stick it on my PC or iPad cover, but Ben and I both laughed about it again when I got the package so I put it on the car just to be cheeky.
The response has been mostly comical. Right after I got it Julie and I took the kids to the beach in Santa Cruz and a couple of guys behind us at a stoplight were pointing at it and cracking up. I’ve also seen two people take photos of it at stop lights.
I thought that eventually I’d get a comment or a dirty look from somebody but living in a pretty liberal area, I was starting to think that I’d never have to deal with that… Till today.
I’d been cruising down 85 in the middle lane for over 15 miles. There were no cars in the left lane for awhile and a motorcycle slowed as it passed me on the left and I could see him do a double take at the back of my car. When he got to just in front of my window he revved his motor to get my attention then flipped me off. I just went with my standard response to finding myself at the receiving end of the middle finger. I smiled as big as I could and waved as enthusiastically as possible. He shook his head, flipped me off one more time and sped away.
And I laughed hysterically then had this exchange with Ben once I got home.
I really do think it’s so funny because all he accomplished was giving me a good chuckle and making me even more happy to be Feeling The Bern! I only wish he knew how spectacularly his finger flip backfired.
Actual conversation Ben and I had over dinner the other night.
Me: So I had a really weird dream last night.
Ben: What was it about?
Me: I don’t want to tell you because you’ll make that face.
Ben: *laughing* Just tell me.
Me: Okay, so for whatever reason we were visiting your sister’s house but it was, like, HUGE. Like 4 stories. And she had extra kids. Babies. A lot of them. This isn’t really relevant but I’m setting the scene. So I know that we’re leaving soon to go visit my family in Pennsylvania so I am COMPLETELY packed because I’m responsible and you REFUSE to pack and keep getting annoyed when I try and suggest that YOU NEED TO PACK.
Ben: *laughing and MAKING THE FACE*
Me: This is EXACTLY WHY I didn’t want to tell you this. This is not a CONTROL thing!
Ben: Whatever you say, honey! Continue.
Me: So then suddenly it’s time to go and you are fully packed and MY SHIT IS EVERYWHERE. Like four stories, all over the place, there is no way that I’m getting all my stuff packed up in time to go so I ask you to help me and YOU WON’T.
Ben: *laughing more*
Me: AND THEN! When I ask you to help, YOU LEAVE ME THERE. At your sisters. You leave to go visit MY FAMILY that you have never met and are just like, “OH WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE PACKED SOONER?”
Ben: So what do you think this dream meant?
Me: I think it means you’re a jerk and that’s why when you asked me to go have breakfast with you I told you I wasn’t getting out of bed and you didn’t care. And you were SUPPOSED to care because I WAS MAD AT YOU AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE.
Ben: This is exactly the kind of thing you need to be blogging.
Me: I think the internet is well aware of The Crazy, thanks.
And yes, Ben has a point. I’m a bit of a control freak but it’s something that I have worked SO HARD on for the last few years. My counselor and I spent many a session discussing why exactly I felt the need to micromanage everybody in the house and it boiled down to not dealing with the ferocious anxiety I’d have when things were not how they should be. I’ve learned coping mechanisms to deal with it and I am getting better but there are definitely still days where it gets the better of me and maybe this dream was just a reminder that I need to focus on those for awhile because I can feel those bad habits creeping back up.
BUT! I recognize it now. Ben and I can laugh about it over dinner and he can trust that, given time to think about it, I’ll deal with it rather than just letting it boil up inside me till one day I explode in a ball of rage. And I can trust that if he sees it getting the better of me, he’s there to ground me and help me see that it’s not that he’s not packing for a trip that’s bothering me, but something else in the wide Metal Health Spectrum that I might need to address.
But don’t turn my cans facing the wrong direction in the pantry and don’t hang a red shirt in the blue shirt section. Because some things are just UNFORGIVABLE. That’s not control, that’s COMMON DECENCY, MAN.
Last Saturday I took a Melatonin and got into bed and then 5 minutes later Ben asked me if I wanted to watch a movie with him. Yeah, I was sound asleep in bed about 10 minutes later. Till suddenly I was awoken in the middle of the night to Ben being crazy.
Ben: So.
Me: *incoherent mumble*
Ben: There is a spider…
Me: WHAT!? WHERE!?
Ben: …in the corner of the garage by the water heater and I need to kill it.
Me: Wait, what?
Ben: I’m not going to tell you what kind of spider it is but do we have something we can spray at a spider and kill it instantly?
Me: IS IT A BLACK WIDOW!?
Ben: Anything?
Me: Brake cleaner?
Ben: Will that work?
Me: I don’t know, it kills brain cells on contact.
And then he was gone and I promptly fell back asleep because it’s not like the spider was in the house.
Then what I assume was a short time later.
Ben: It worked!
Me: THAT’S RIGHT IT DID! YOU SHOWED THAT SPIDER WHO THE FUCKING BOSS IS. THIS IS YOUR HOUSE AND THAT SPIDER CAN GET THE FUCK OUT.
Ben: Oooookay.
Me: YOU TOLD THAT SPIDER! THAT SPIDER WAS TOLD!
Ben: …
Me: What kind of spider was it?
Ben: A HUGE black widow. One of the biggest I’ve ever seen.
Me: So, then we’ll be burning the house down tomorrow?
Ben: You should probably go back to sleep now.
Me: Yeah. Okay.
He acts like I’m the crazy person in this relationship but I’m not the one that was spider hunting in the garage in the middle of the night. Who even does that!? Crazy people, THAT’S who.
P.S. – I told Ben that I had started writing this last night at dinner so asked him why he was out in the garage that late at night hunting spiders and he swears there was a reason he was out there but could never actually remember what the reason was. CRAZY, BEN! THAT’S THE REASON.
P.S.² – I took the picture of the dead black widow above in 2010 shortly after we had moved into the house and it took me an entire year to use the downstairs bathroom again.
P.S.³ – Ben also told me last night on the way home from dinner that the spider had curled into a ball so he left it there and then the next day it was GONE. I asked him WHY IN THE HELL he would tell me that! LIE TO ME! He said that lying would be bad because it sets a bad prescient and I get that but then I told him that he’s allowed to lie about spiders. Then he got out of the car and walked over to the corner and said he thought he could see it on the ground and now I don’t know if I can trust him. *sigh*
I snapped this photo seconds before heading out the door to take an early evening run with my two favorite furry creatures on Wednesday. Little did I know that it would be the most shitty run I’d ever had.
LITERALLY.
SHITTY.
I’d planned on doing a 2.5 mile loop around our neighborhood. Since I’m just getting back into trying to Be A Runner I’ve been stuck in this pattern of: run 1/4 mile, walk 1/4 mile, rinse/repeat till I hit my desired distance. I hate it and it sucks and on this run I decided that I was ready to break that cycle. And I did.
I walked 1/4 mile, started running and decided I was not going to stop. And I didn’t.
Till Kumo had to poop.
So he pooped and I did my proper Pet Parent duty and picked it up to carry it with me till I could get to the trash can that I knew was about 1/4 mile away.
But I had committed! I was not going to walk! And I entered that Runner’s Zone where everything was just perfect. My breathing was perfectly coordinated with my steps, my Nerdist podcast was funny, my pace was on point for the duration, the dogs were happily jogging beside me, I wasn’t having to THINK about running at all, it was just happening.
So I ran right past the first garbage can. I didn’t even realize I still had a bag of poop in my hand along with Kumo’s retractable leash handle.
Till I felt something warm and wet hit my leg and looked down to see what it was.
And that’s when everything got REALLY SHITTY.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized that the warm wet substance was wet poop leaking from the bottom of the bag. Then I looked over at the bag and realized there was wet poop all over my hand and the leash handle. What I didn’t realize was that while I had stopped, Kumo had not. I didn’t realize that till he reached the end of the 20 foot leash, yanked the handle in my hand causing me to drop the poop bag. The poop bag hit the ground and a perfect arc of wet poop cascaded forth from the bottom of the bag spraying me from the chest down in a spattering of wet poop.
And I froze.
And then the smell hit me and I spent a good minute standing perfectly still while dry heaving and wondering WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO!?
I’m 1.5 miles from home if I go forward, I’m about .75 miles from home if I go back. In my head I’m trying to decide how committed I actually am here. I slowly shuffled over to the trash can about 10 feet in front of me and started trying to use the free poop bags they provide along the trail to wipe the poop off the leash handle and my hand. I ended up rubbing them all over the grass along the trail and got them clean-ish. Then started trying to use the clean poop bags to wipe the poop off my capris and tank top but that was just smearing it in more.
The entire time Kumo is sitting on the side of the trail with is head cocked to the side while staring at me as if to say, “How come you yell at me if I try and rub myself in random poops I find or if I try and eat the cat poop but you get to paint your body and play with my poop?”
So I stoop up, took a deep breath, dry heaved again, and kept running.
I ran 1.5 miles covered in my dog’s poop. Thankfully I only saw another person once. Usually when I’m running at night and have my head lamp on I don’t look people in the face as I pass them because the LED light blinds you for a good while. I will tilt my head down and say hello instead. This time, I looked that poor teenage boy right in the face for as long as I could so that he’d be too blind to figure out where the smell was coming from.
Not even sorry.
It took a 20 minute shower with the hot water on full blast and almost an entire bar of soap to finally feel clean again.
Still the best run I’ve had in awhile.
The end.
Oh hey! Happy 8 days after Valentines! We decided to just spend the day together doing Stuff We Like. We went on a hike, ate some good food and saw Deadpool. So basically, it was a perfectly perfect day for the two of us.
Here is a video of our hike! I know that most people won’t find the entertainment value in this video but I really think I’ll start doing this more because how cool will it be to look back on these years from now!?
On Black Friday Ben snagged a few nights at our favorite hotel in Pismo, SeaVenture, and we were finally able to use them up last weekend and it was PERFECT. We woke up both mornings to the sound of rain and waves but still had two days of beautiful blue skies. It was so very relaxing. Walks on the beach and to eat and to get coffee. Lots of soaking in the hot tub on the balcony. Lots of laying in bed talking and laughing and watching bad TV.
And we ate a lot of food.
A. LOT.
My mom got me this magical purple Tignanello purse for Christmas and it’s just so awesome that I HAD to share it because, seriously, you NEED THIS PURSE IN YOUR LIFE. I liked it when I first saw it but once I realized it is a magic T.A.R.D.I.S. purse that you can fit your entire life into I absolutely fell in love with it. Look how tiny and cute it looks on the outside when it’s all closed up. That’s an iPhone 6 Plus if you are looking for a size comparison.
This little tag is actually a mirror. Adorable!
The best part of this purse is that it unzips all the way to the base of the purse so although you can stuff it full of things, it makes it very easy to get to any of your stuff once it’s opened. And seriously, LOOK AT ALL THAT STUFF! And I still have lots of little pockets to fill!
For a better look at the contents I pulled it all out and laid it in front of the purse.
Here is an even better view of all the things opened and pulles out of their containers. Yes, I carry all this around with me every day because: LIFE.
From left to right:
Normally I also have my portable phone charger and cable in there too but it’s currently on my desk at work charging. OOPS! Left it there over the weekend.
AND THERE IS STLL ROOM.
There are a ton of places you can buy Tignanello purses like Macy’s and Nordstrom but they are REALLY affordable on QVC which is, I’m sure, where my mother got mine.
Mandatory Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated for this post. This purse was purchased for me by my awesome mom, I was not asked to review this product, the manufacturer of the product does not even know I exist. I just REALLY like this purse.