November Wrap-Up

You guys, this has been a rough month. Not for any of my goals particularly, just in general. I've been a little overwhelmed with real life, and Brooke gave me some great advice: sometimes you have to let yourself let go of things. So thanks for being understanding about my little blogging break over the last week or so.

Food Challenge: Going Vegetarian

I thought that I would be saving money by not buying meat at the grocery store anymore, but I was so wrong. There are so many fancy ingredients you can buy that I wouldn't necessarily think to if I was still eating meat. Like, did you know that shittake mushrooms are $9.98 a pound??? And the meal I made with them wasn't even that good. :(

Completed: Day 80 of 90. (That is, assuming I only keep it up for the three months required by my Life List.)

Reading Challenge: Read Through the Bible in a Year

I read through Daniel this month, which was pretty good — dudes getting thrown into furnaces and lion's dens, but not dying, because God is awesome. Also working on Hosea, which isn't one of those books that's read all that often, but it's interesting because it's almost like a pre-cursor for the gospels.

Completed: Day 340 of 362

Food Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Bluebell Ice Cream
You guys, I think Fudge Divinity might have ousted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough as my favorite flavor of ice cream. I couldn't stop eating this stuff, and there was a lot of it, because Matt didn't like it. BECAUSE HE KEPT POURING CHOCOLATE SYRUP ALL OVER IT. It was fluffy and marshmallow-y and amazing on its own, but not overly sweet, and syrup ruins it.

We also tried Mango ice cream. It wasn't good. A friend tried it and liked it, so we told him to take it home with him. That was weird, we never don't finish ice cream.

When Matt and I were perusing the flavors the other day, he asked what I would do if, when he graduated, we end up moving to a state that doesn't sell Bluebell. I was HORRIFIED. If I find out we're moving somewhere without Bluebell, I'll just have to make sure we try them all before we leave. Ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Completed: 54 out of 70 flavors

You think I'm kidding about ice cream for every meal? This is what I ate when Matt was at a conference for four days last week.

Other Adventures
I went shopping with my family and all I got was a stun gun. I decorated my very own office. Other than that, my days were filled with boring things like laundry and watching bad TV. Next month will be more exciting, I promise.

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?

"Extreme Cheapskates" Makes My Head Explode

Have you seen this new TLC show "Extreme Cheapskates"? It's like a train wreck. You can't look away even though it's awful and you feel bad for every person involved.

I was channel surfing last night while eating dinner, and I came across "Cheapskates" in the middle of an episode. It featured a woman who was trying to help her daughter plan a wedding on a shoe-string budget. Now, I'm all for bring frugal. I know a few women who had very small wedding budgets and still managed to pull off lovely, joyful celebrations. But when you're buying a pee-covered wedding dress at a pawn shop? And serving your guests mayo-and-Wonder bread cheese sandwiches for the reception? Um, something might have snapped in your head. Don't even get me started on the eight-months-pregnant woman in the next episode who would go dumpster-diving behind hospitals for pre-natal vitamins. (I watched like four episodes before I couldn't handle it anymore.)

Then there was the couple that shares not only a toothbrush, but also a single piece of floss and a single cotton swab. This show just makes me feel gross.

I mean, seriously??? I consider myself to be an expert penny-pincher, but I would NEVER share my razor with Matt. You've gotta keep SOME mystery in the relationship, right?! Besides, you can get floss for free from the dentist when you go in for a cleaning, so how much is that really saving you? Same with toothbrushes. GET YOUR OWN.

Then there was the girl who was earning $4k a month at her job, but would bring her own food to restaurants and ask the server to heat it up for her. And this is where I started to get REALLY pissed off. If you're too cheap to eat out in restaurants, DON'T GO TO RESTAURANTS. If you're too cheap to pay for a wedding cake, DON'T TRY TO LOW-BALL THE BAKERY. If you are too cheap to pay for paint for your baby's nursery, DON'T TRY TO HAGGLE AT THE LOCAL HARDWARE STORE. I mean, these people that run these small businesses have to make a living too!  (No one was trying to pull this crap at Wal-Mart or Home Depot or Chili's — it was always the little places.)

I'm all for getting a good price, but that's what shopping around is for! I feel like the people on this show are incredibly rude — not for wanting to get a good deal, but for taking advantage of local service providers. Small business owners (of which I am one) have to decide what their products and services are worth based on expertise, project scope, market rates, overhead, supply/demand, and a myriad of other factors. I would be royally insulted if someone tried to argue that I should work for free just because they don't want to pay. I have to pay bills just like you do. OH WAIT, most of the people on this show live with their parents, so they can force mom and dad to foot the bills instead. (Dude, you're a professional wrestler. Your mom should not be shaving your back every day.)

Have you watched "Extreme Cheapskates"? What do you think of these antics? Do you consider yourself to be cheap?

I Finally Have My Own Office!

I've showed you pictures of my office before, and also complained about how Matt and I both had our computers on the same desk. It drove me crazy that he could come in and move my work stuff or rearrange things, and that I couldn't do a thing about it because it was his workspace too.

Well, two weeks ago he finally moved his desktop computer over to his office at work, since the work computer wasn't running fast enough to support his research anymore, or something. So now I have the whooooole desk to myself!

"Pretty in Pink" is so Cliché

I know I don't normally do outfit posts anymore. In general, my clothes aren't that exciting. But I felt so pretty in my pink "suit" yesterday, I just had to take pictures.

Oh yeah, I got bored with my hair and cut bangs the other day.

Technically it's not even an actual suit. The jacket is from New York and Company, and the skirt is from Express, but the shades are SO close that I didn't figure anyone would notice that they're not identical.

And if they did, I don't care.

Jacket: New York & Co.; Skirt: Express; Top: White House Black Market; Shoes: Seychelles "Code"; Necklace: gift; Earrings: hand-me-downs.

I was going to a luncheon for my local chapter of the American Business Women's Association (of which I am on the local board), and every month the board agrees on a color for us to wear so that we'll be easily recognized if members or guests have questions about the organization.

This month, one of the ladies chose pink, and you guys? Pink is my favorite color ever. My sister makes fun of me because like, half the things in my closet are pink. And not really even baby pink or blush or medium pink. Hot pink. Hot pink is my happy.

(In fact, I had been looking for a pair of hot pink skinny jeans since colored jeans came into style. I finally got a pair the other day and I couldn't help but smile when I tried them on.)

What is your favorite color? What kind of outfits make you feel confident and pretty?

I Got Slimed

Every once in a while, when I hand-wash clothes on laundry day, I like to put the drying racks outside. I feel like it helps the clothes air-dry faster, since they get air on both the top and bottom of the item, and also it prevents Elliott from getting into trouble. Elliott likes to crawl on the mesh racks and weigh them down, and she also likes to eat my sweaters, which are the pieces I'm most often hand-washing.

So on Sunday, I was doing my laundry, and I put the drying racks outside in the courtyard. It was a nice afternoon, and then it got cool in the evening. I brought the racks inside around 9 p.m., after it had already been dark for a while. The sweaters weren't dry yet, but I didn't want to leave them outside overnight. I figured I'd bring the racks into the laundry nook and let the sweaters keep drying.

I got my racks inside and saw some brown things on two of my sweaters. I assumed that some leaves had blown into our courtyard, and so I went to pick them off. And they were squishy. So I looked closer and they were SLUGS. ALL OVER. MY SWEATERS.

(Okay, there were only three or four of them, but I immediately began squealing and hopping around like a little girl. Yeeeeeeeuuuuch!!!)

I was busy squirming and shrieking and generally being a total pansy, so Matt got a paper towel and picked off the slugs and threw them back outside into the flowerbed. And after he got the last one out of the house he said, "I see a blog post about this in the future. It's too bad you didn't get a picture with the slugs."

Yeah. Too bad.

But I did try to get a picture of the slime trails. Because I love you guys. (Weirdest sentiment ever?)

It was next to impossible to photograph. Suffice it to say there were slime trails on both of my sweaters.

Euuuuch. Slug on our back patio yesterday. This picture is giving me the creeps all over again.

I threw the sweaters back in the wash. Screw hand-washing, I'm not touching slime. *shudder*

Do you hand-wash laundry? What makes you freak out?

Going Veg: The First 60 Days

This month was a little weird, because all of a sudden I was hungry ALL THE TIME. Like, waking up at 3 a.m. starving on more than one occasion. I had been doing better about not eating when I wasn't hungry! But I spent quite a few days being irritable and downright HANGRY at Matt before I realized that ... um, maybe I need to eat more often.

What am I eating?
Truth: I'm eating way more cheese than I ever have before. I am tolerating it. Matt practically beams with pride every time I willingly pick up a piece of cheese.

• Easy Pad Thai. This was deeeelish. If my stomach had been like, a lot bigger, I would have eaten the whole pot. But it made an awful lot of food, so I let Matt have some. He said that he wouldn't mind if I made this more often. P.S. It totally isn't the same if you use regular pasta noodles instead of the rice noodles. I tried.
• Quinoa Mexi Lime Salad. Surprisingly filling for a salad. I served this as a main dish.
• BBQ Black Bean Pizzas. I'd made these once before, and really liked them, so I made 'em again. Matt ate a ton. I literally got mad the next day because I thought he was going to eat all the leftovers before I got a chance at them. We are very territorial and competitive about our food.
• Quinoa Chili. I originally bookmarked this recipe because it looked just like the chili my dad made when we were kids. And suprisingly, it tasted really similar too! Except that this one had quinoa instead of ground beef. It was very good, though next time I'll use the smaller recommended amount of broth regardless of cook time, as it was a tiny bit soupier than I would have liked.

Do I miss meat?
I was hanging out with some friends from church a few days ago when they decided to pick up lunch from Wings 'N More. I ordered onion rings and fried mushrooms since they were the only meatless things on the menu. There was totally a chicken nugget fried into the same piece as one of my mushrooms. As soon as I bit into it, I spat it back out. So there's your answer. I still don't want to eat meat.

Have I tried any meat substitutes? (Question from Jess!)
I had a coupon, so I bought some Boca veggie patties and "sausage links" to try out. I'll be honest, I was kind of iffy about trying meat substitutes, because if I'm going to cook, I prefer to use fresh ingredients and keep everything as natural as possible. But I have read a few things that said these products are good if you're transitioning away from meat, because they can help you to feel like your meals are more well-rounded (which is something I was struggling with last month).

I microwaved some of the breakfast links for Matt and I to try. He took one bite and said "It's not sausage." Yesssss ... but it kind of did have the smoky, spicy flavor of sausage. Not bad at all. I offered to finish Matt's link for him, but he wanted it for himself, and since then I've made them a few times. We haven't tried the veggie patties yet.

What have I learned?
I need snacks. Apparently my snack schedule was doing me some good, because I wasn't hungry every second when I was snacking more. I think I just need to do better about the kind of snacks I'm getting, since popcorn really doesn't have much nutritional value. Since I realized I need to snack better, I've been munching on honey-roasted nuts, strawberry yogurt, peanut butter crackers, and even roasted broccoli once!

How am I feeling?
Surprisingly great, as far as my stomach issues go. I like eating in ways that make me feel not terrible.

On the other hand, I've been feeling dizzy a bit more than usual. (I've had dizzy spells here and there over the last few years, but not as often as I have this month.) I went to the doctor a few days ago and they said my blood pressure was fine, and also I take a multivitamin everyday for iron, so I don't know what's up with that.

How is Matt taking it?
He says he likes that I make him food. The end.

What you REALLY want to know: WHAT ABOUT THANKSGIVING?
I talked to my sister-in-law about this right after my last post went up, because Matt and I will be celebrating with his family. (My parents are coming too, and I'm excited to see everyone at the same time! This whole alternating-families thing is a pain. Dang you, marriage.) Neither of us are big turkey fans, and she thought that it shouldn't be that hard to avoid meat. So I'll do the same as I always do and just load my plate up with green bean casserole and baked sweet potatoes and sweet rolls and a variety of salads (including Waldorf and spinach and marshmallow [oooooh I forgot about marshmallow salad until I was writing this post!]).

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Armed and Fabulous

As I mentioned earlier this week, I spent all day last Saturday in Canton shopping with my family. At one point, we were walking through this open-air wooden building, and as I passed a table in between booths, I did a double-take.

Were those ... pink tasers?

So I doubled back to get a better look, and whaddaya know, they totally were! The booth was run by a self-defense company called Damsel in Defense ("because you carry your Knight in Shining Armor in your purse" — isn't that just the best tagline ever?), and they had a whole line of stun guns, pepper sprays, alarms and things to keep in your car just in case something bad happened (like flashlights that can also break glass and cut seatbelts). My mom and Rachel came up to join me when they saw that I'd stopped in my tracks.

The woman running the table, Robin, gave us a full presentation where she showed us the various stun guns Damsel in Defense offers for self-defense, from 1 million Volts all the way up to 7.5 million Volts. She said that even though you're allowed to conceal carry guns in Texas, that many women would think twice about shooting an attacker for fear of killing them. (And besides, I don't have a conceal-carry license anyway, so fat lot of good that would do me.) And while these stun guns would quickly take down an attacker — even through clothing — they are non-lethal.

And they come in pretty colors too!

Plus, they have a pin wristlet that's similar to a headphone jack, and the stun guns only work if the wristlet is attached. So if the wristlet somehow got detached (ie. an attacker managed to get the stun gun away from you), it wouldn't work, so they couldn't use it against you.

It's also a flashlight!

The three of us were completely fascinated by all these self-defense products. We probably spent more time at this one table than any other booth in the whole place.

My mom mentioned that she worries about my sister a lot, since Rachel's still in college and lives in a not-very-nice neighborhood and walks alone a lot. And then my mom said that she didn't feel safe walking around in her own neighborhood because there were a lot of big dogs roaming around off-leash. (Robin said that the noise the stun gun emits is often enough to scare away dogs.) They were sold. So then I was like, well, if both of ya'll are getting one, I might as well get one too. I'm not necessarily walking alone at night much anymore, but it never hurts to be on the safe side.

We purchased the "Pack a Punch" stun guns, which are $50 each and come in black, pink, teal and lime green. And we each got a different color. :)

Robin seemed totally comfortable demonstrating the electric shock, but it scared me a little when I tested it out!

I hope that I'll never have to use it, but I feel good about doing something to protect myself. If you're interested in doing the same, you can check out the various products Damsel in Defense sells on Robin's website.

Would you ever carry a stun gun?

I did not receive compensation from Damsel in Defense or Robin in exchange for this post. I just thought the company and their products were a fantastic idea and wanted to share, and also want to make sure all ya'll ladies are keepin' it safe out there.

Sometimes It's Nice To Have No Words

I listen to Pandora a lot while I'm working. A few months ago, I was listening and the first few notes of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" came on. I LOVE Katy Perry. All her songs are my jams. But when it was time for her to start singing, she just ... didn't. The whole song was just the instrumentals, the background music she sings over. I didn't know that artists even released instrumentals! And I had never thought about background music before, and how cool it can be on its own.

Here, take a listen:

After I heard that, I started listening for the background music in pop songs a lot more often. And not even just KP songs. I mean, listen to "This is What It Feels Like"! Or "Counting Stars"! Or "American Girl"!

It turns out you can't download the "official" instrumentals from iTunes, but you can buy the karaoke versions, which are pretty similar, if not completely identical (depending on the version). Some of Katy's other songs I'm planning on downloading, as soon as I get around to buying a new iTunes card:

Roar
I love the heaviness of the notes, and how not like the original it sounds. I mean, I love the actual song too, but it's neat how the music is so different when there's no one singing over it.

Wide Awake
When "Wide Awake" first came out, I didn't really like it all that much. But it's grown on me a lot. The instrumental helped.

Firework
Still one of my favorite KP songs. It sounds just like you'd expect it to.

Do you like instrumentals? What are your favorite Pandora channels?

A Day in Canton

I've never been a big shopper, but most of the women in my family absolutely loooove it. My sister, aunt and maternal grandmother regularly go shopping in Canton, a city about two hours from the Dallas-Fort Worth area that sets up this enormous open-air market once a month for vendors — and hordes of shoppers looking to score a deal — to attend. My aunt usually goes at least a few times per year, maybe even more.

I had never felt any inclination to go when I was younger, because it was described to me as "a giant flea market," and I just don't understand that thrill-of-the-hunt mindset that comes with flea-market shopping. Driving two hours to browse with no specific intended purchases? Are you nuts?

But a few weeks ago, my sister Rachel texted me and asked me if I wanted to go to Canton with her and my aunt. And I figured that I could go up to visit my family for the weekend, because if I didn't, I might not manage to see some of them until Christmas. So I agreed.

I later found out that the reason I got invited was because Rachel is dating a boy who is also named Matt, and when Rachel asked my aunt if she wanted to go to Canton with "me and Matt's mom," my aunt assumed that "Matt's mom" was my mother-in-law, and asked if I was going too. So I got invited. And then my aunt figured out what the heck was going on, but by then it was me, Rachel, Mom, my aunt, "Matt's mom" and the boyfriend himself who planned to spend the whole day shopping together.

(Because of the obvious confusion of having two significant others of the same name, we were all calling the boyfriend various names, and we figured that had to end so we could stop being confused as to which Matt was being referred to at any given point in time. So we finally all agreed that we would simply call the new boyfriend "Matteo." He used to live very close to the Texas-Mexico border, and that's what his mom called him when they lived there. So henceforth, should I ever mention Matteo, that is my sister's boyfriend, while "Matt" is still the name of my husband. Standard dibs rules applied.)