La Vida Lunch: Rest

Its lunch time.

I'm not eating anything fancy today, just a turkey sandwich with lettuce and provolone, dry; with 5 of the biggest strawberries I have ever seen (on the side of course.)

The lunch of champions...

...Or lazy lunch-makers like me.

Its been a great week.

I've had just enough to do to help me feel accomplished at the end of each day, but not so much that I feel as if I've carried a burden.

I've been back to the gym several times (which makes me happy... its a sickness, I know.) I've made granola for my ravenous swimming-eaters, tackled the ever growing laundry issue, and todays goal is to clean my bedroom and bathroom.

This is all monotonous, boring stuff that you don't really want to read about.

However, I am exceedingly grateful for this boring, turkey sandwich, fold-the-same-pair-of-tighty-whities, kind of week.

I am grateful for this little house in the woods, the food that I eat, the clothes that I wear.

I am grateful that I am healthy and strong. That my body ("flaws" and all) is healthy and fit and capable of folding, running, playing.

I am grateful for a small moment to remember what contentedness feels like ~ its peace, its strength.

I know it's easy to be content in plenty.

There was a (short) time years ago, when I had to learn what it was like to be content in want.

Yes, it's easy to be content when your belly is full and your heart is happy.

But I am grateful all the same.

I think sometimes its not plenty or want that makes me forget that I am satisfied with my lot in life.

Its busy-ness.

Its the lack of still, quiet, moments.

Its the rushing through all things.

Its being out of breath... and forgetting how to breathe.

This morning I read my favorite of all Psalms: 116.

Over the course of my life, I have read this chapter over, and over, again.

This morning one verse stood out above all the others...and lingers in my heart as a sweet fragrance, a reminder...to be grateful.

Be at rest once more, O my soul,

for the LORD has been good to you. 

Psalm 116:7

La Vida Lunch

Wanna join me for a bloggers lunch today?

This is what I'm serving:

That would be a chicken salad and homemade wheat bread, fresh from the oven.

I'm sipping a piping-hot cup of blueberry-green tea...with a splash of honey.

Tea?

Glad you asked.

I haven't been talking about it here on the net, but {{looking over my shoulders}} I'm trying to cut back on caffeine.

I've been feeling run down, and tired, and just a little "off". At first I thought it was sugar. Cuz sometimes if I get crazy with sugar consumption it can make me feel super tired and run-down.

But it wasn't that.

The truth is that its cold outside and I like be warm. Drinking coffee is such a warm, wonderful, thing.

Anyway, instead of drinking coffee all morning, then again with my lunch, and yet again with my afternoon snack (yes, I snack like a toddler in the afternoon) I decided to try to drink other hot beverages.

My first hot beverage of choice was to pull out the amazing recipe my dear friend Tracy sent me at Christmas. (Hi Tracy, my best friend from high school!) Its hot chocolate with some butterscotch schnapps and whipped cream added for a  delightful afternoon warmth.

Obviously, being a light-weight I wouldn't want to risk getting schnockered in the middle of the afternoon wasting all those calories just to keep warm, so I have been trying to drink herbal or green teas (along with decaf).

Once I got over the initial lack-of-caffeine period (I hate to use the word withdrawal since it has that whole "addiction" connotation) I'm feeling a lot better!

Ok, this is not where I intended this post to go....let's steer this ship around.

How's your lunch....more bread?

Its a rainy day here in the Carolina's and my part of school is finished.

Along with teaching I made the kids Sweet Biscuits for breakfast, and bread for lunch.

I have made my bed, and straightened the living room.

I washed, folded and put away three loads of laundry, with two more whirring as we type.

I've helped the kids get their chores done for the day, including the dishes, the sweeping of the kitchen floors and the vacuuming of the school room and the upstairs.

I am seriously considering cleaning the master bathroom, although the cleaning schedule says it doesn't need to be done until tomorrow.

Do you know why I am so very productive today?

I'm procrastinating. Big time.

My new shelves are painted and ready. And while the rest of the house is fairly tidy, my office has been neglected. To say the least.

I must organize and clean all of this....

Before I can get to this:

It's in moments like these when I wish I could twitch my nose like Tabitha and make everything magically go in place.

All right, my lunch is gone and since I have managed to encourage mid-afternoon drinking and witchcraft all in one post...I should probably sign off...

Can we blame it on a lack of caffeine?

Ladies Who Lunch (And other fun stuff)

Thanks to all who played If I Came To Your House Today on Friday.

That was some serious fun, and I look forward to doing it again in the future!

This weekend was chock-full of exciting events and it all started out with a lunch date with The Carpool Queen on Friday. She had some VIP's in town for a short stay, and was generous enough to share a couple of hours of her visiting time with me tagging along.

I was very excited to meet the ever witty and famous ImNotNed. He actually has his own blog, but I found him through the comment section over at CPQ's place.

Anyway, ImNotNed (who really isn't Ned, but whom I almost called Ned five bagillion times) was just as fun in person as the guy he plays on the net. And I would say that even if he hadn't bought everybody's lunch. (Thanks again!)

I really enjoyed talking with Imnotned's beautiful wife, Momologuer.

I hope I didn't appear too weird.

You see, she reminded me of someone, so I kept staring at her while my brain was in overload trying to figure it all out.

I kept wishing they were gonna be here awhile so that I could kidnap CPQ and Momologuer for the afternoon. I just knew that we would be kindred spirits, should time allow. (Hmmm, I've seen her somewhere....)

How did I know?

Well, other than the fact that Momologuer seemed very calm, relaxed, and personable, in her beautiful winter-white wear, but when she found out I was on the way to Michael's for a few crafty things she dug in her purse to see if she might have a coupon I could use.

Friends, that is love...to share a Michael's coupon with a stranger.

(who does she remind me of?)


As we said goodbye and walked out into the rain I was still trying to figure out who Momologuer looked like...when I got into the car and put the key in the ignition it came to me...

Kate Hudson....she totally looks like Kate Hudson.

On a complete random note....to say that I am not an adventurous eater would be the understatement of the year. I am especially a not a fan of anything that has anything to do with cream, or cream sauce-- anything that is colored white, really. (Sweet things and coffee creamer excluded.)

Listen, I never said I didn't have issues.

But for some weird reason--and I am not sure why--when I am with the CPQ I try to be very foody forward.

Case in point: Chicken Pot Pie Soup.

It was rainy and terribly cold outside and I knew soup was the answer. Normally I would go for French Onion or Chicken Veggie, but when the waitress walked up I ordered a big bowl of the Chicken Pot Pie soup like I had just won the Dairy Queen crown.

Next time I won't be such a poser.

Ok, this post is getting long...fast foward, Coffeegal.

Saturday we went to Richmond VA, got lost downtown in the middle of a marathon, toured a musuem, and a historic home, went to a wedding receiption for some friends, drove home, slept late Sunday, made french bread, read in the first sunshine we had had in almost a week, crashed in bed last night, and now I am here. Whew!

One side note: In the middle of all that activity I tried the Peppermint Chocolate Shake at Chik-fil-A. I had heard rave reviews on Twitter and other blogs.

Don't hate me, but....I'm not a fan. It's like drinking a gravel milkshake. It tastes good, but all the crunched up candy cane is like drinking rocks.

However, to confuse you even more, since I have written my disdain for all things creamy, I do actually like one Egg Nog shake during this season...

I know, I even confuse myself...

Happy Monday!

Giving Thanks

I'm sneaking out of the Time-Out chair to share a quick recipe with you.

Today I had The Carolina Gals over for lunch. We dined on Tortilla Soup, Nutty Apple Salad and homemade whole wheat bread (Thanks Vickie!). Oh, and chocolate cake, which tasted all right but looked horrendous, so i almost forgot to mention it.

But on to other things.....

Jen with One N, my friend in Texas who doesn't have a blog but who I talk about from time to time, used to make the Nutty Apple Salad al lot for summer salad luncheons. I enjoy this salad, so I pulled out her recipe to find out what ingredients I needed. 

I had everything on hand except Sugared Walnuts, but I figured it couldn't be all that hard to make some since I had walnuts and sugar on hand. I found this recipe online.

Now, I just want to tell you that I don't actually recommend these sugared walnuts. As a matter of fact, you probably don't want this recipe. Because quite honestly, they are so tasty you may take my name in vain after you eaten the entire batch. They are addictive, and they tasted great in the salad too.

Anyway, the group of ladies today was smaller than anticipated because the weather is so dreary and wet. But I had a fantastic time with the gals that did brave the weather. We didn't end up needing the second little table which is just as well, I like when we can all sit around the table together.

Ok, I promised myself to not take more than fifteen minutes to post this, so I will quickly share Jen with One N's recipe for Nutty Apple Salad. I hope it's not a secret family recipe....if it is, you didn't get it from me.

9 cups mixed greens

1 small granny smith apple

1 small red apple

1/3 cup sugar roasted walnuts

Dressing:

3TBL apple cider vinegar

3TBLS olive oil

1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

Tear lettuce; chop apples; Mix Dressing; Pour over salad; toss; and sprinkle nuts on top.

Enjoy!

OK, I'm going back to time-out. But just between you and me, I have managed to get mostly caught up, although I still haven't gotten to my "blog reading" stack yet. But it is on my list for tomorrow! Yay! See you there!

Happy Friday!

A La Vida Lunch Break (interrupted)

It was supposed to be a quick post.

The soup was ready. The sourdough toast, toasted. The iced Passion tea? Perfectly brewed.

But everything else went wrong.

It's because I am in a hurry. Which has never gone well in my life. Even my 2nd grade report card will tell you: Kellie is a smart girl who is respectful and kind, but she has trouble with rushing. If she would take her time than she wouldn't make so many simple mistakes.

I have the report card. I would scan it for you, but I'm kind of in a hurry.

Anyway, tonight is the second to last night for the bible study that Mrs. Moofish and I are leading. Tonight we are studying Mary Magdalene.  Oh her story is so good!  I get excited just thinking about it.

I try to keep things on the down-low during the day of bible study night. Because I get anxious when my day is jammed packed and I know I have to teach in the evening. Teaching with anxiety is nearly impossible.  

So today was about studying, and folding laundry. I wasn't going to blog, but I was dying to to be a Bragger Bragorino, and show you the place-mats and napkins I made for an auction/charity dinner next week.  

I was thinking about how pretty the soup and toast and tea would look sitting on a new place setting. Just for the sake of a quick picture. Of course my camera was running out of battery and the lighting was bad, so I tried to rest the camera in the dock while fixing the light. I plugged the camera dock in a plug that sits right over the dog's water dish. Evidently the weight of the plug was too much for the socket, because it just fell out of the wall and into the full bowl of water.

I quickly retrieved it and prayed that the Arizona heat will dry it out.

Meanwhile I had to get a picture, with a camera that will only stay on for a total of ten seconds. Then i had to trick it into staying on long enough to get it loaded into the computer.  Then Blogger was taking it sweet time to upload. 

AUUGGGGHHHH!!!!! This was supposed to be quick.

This what I get for  trying to post when I shouldn't be; and for being a self-seeking seamstress.

So there you have it. A very ill-lighted bowl of veggie soup, and a piece of toast with a bite taken out. 

I should probably spell check,  but have I mentioned I'm in a hurry?

Let's Lunch...

It has been a really long time since I have been able to have a Blogging Lunch.  It's really my favorite time to sit and blog. It feels so productive, what with all the eating and typing, and trying not get peanut butter on the key board. 

What I really should do is go sit down and write something of substance. 

You know, my head has all these really great things that I am wanting to write about, and yet for some reason I am digging my heals in when it comes to using that time wisely. 

I would have more time to write if I didn't do things like read 2867 recipes on allrecipes.  I wasted an hour of precious time, and I still couldn't find any lunch recipe I might be able to use with a can of tuna, bread crumbs and diet Coke.  Cuz, that's what was in my cupboard, until todays trip to the grocery.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot lately about quality vs. quantity on blog posts.  Which is funny, because I never really thought about it until about six months ago, when I realized that I have almost 100 people who look at this blog everyday. Everyday.  Before I had a counter on my site I was writing to my little handful of "in real life" people, and I would write about things as I saw them, and my friends would all read, and we would laugh, and I was oblivious to the fact that anyone else could (or would want to) read it.

Honestly, 100 people is nothing, because there are bloggers out there who have thousands of readers. I have been blogging for over three years now and for some reason now I feel pressure. Pressure to say something witty. Pressure to say something wise. Pressure to post every single day with something that is good.  Pressure to be liked.

Which makes me laugh out loud, because I don't even consider myself a writer, and it kind of irritates me that this is even on my mind!  But it is...'cuz I feel privileged to be able to have met so many amazing women all over the country through this platform.  People I love to get to know through their blogs. People I would have never met otherwise!  

I think I am frustrated, because I am such a people oriented person, and I often wear my heart on my sleeve.  I am a "sit and interact with people" kind of person, and I think at this very moment I am irritated by the fact that I cannot be sitting across the table with you, eating our peanut butter and strawberries, sharing life face to face .  Without the hassle of having to spell check and re-word things, and make sure I haven't written "know" instead of "now".  Or that I have just written a complete run on sentence.  To be able to share life together, because writing it out seems so hard!

Whew! Who knew I was going to get so hormonal during this lunch? But I am feeling like things around La Vida Dulce have been a little bland. 

Does this all sound like I have completely flipped my lid? If you have a blog, do you feel this way?