New Legs!

I'm sorry but I can't stop laughing at this....


Courtesy of http://9gag.com/gag/4806865 via Pinterest

A Weekend Update

DH and I attempted our first Mod Podge centerpiece. It turned out good, as far as the Mod Podge goes. The rest of it wasn't as good as we had hoped. But have no fear, there are ideas a-brewing in my and Momma A's minds.

We watched The Godfather this weekend. DH had never seen it. I had the pleasure of introducing Don Corleone and family, going to the mattresses, leave the gun and take the cannoli, and Maunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday to DH. 

We went to the gym, as usual. I finally gave in and weighed and measured myself after 6 weeks of Advocare. I've lost 5 pounds and a half inch everywhere! I was a little terrified to look at the numbers since I'm so influenced by what I see and not how I feel. 

I was on my way home tonight, talking to my momma and noticed some fierce lightening in the distance. I had an aha moment a couple years ago when I was standing on my balcony watching a storm roll through. It reminded me, at the time, that God is always around me always. The storm those years ago underscored in a physical way how He surrounds me. He was everywhere tonight then!

First the rain came, then the power flickered again and again and again. Then the wind hit. Puppy was whining and Henry was acting weird. The wind was so strong that the house was shaking. It wasn't the train's a coming tornado sound, but it was awful. Literal shaking of the walls. At that point I grabbed the cell phone, the quilt, pillow and animals. We all spent the next 20 minutes in the bathroom, Puppy and I in the tub shaking. Me trying to stay calm, she trying to not pee on me. Henry ran around like an orange loon and attacked the toilet, leaped into the sink and then bit Puppy on the nose. Right about then the lights went out and stayed out. I called DH in a panic and prayed that we didn't have a freak tornado or a cat-dog fight.

All in all, after the rain passed and the sun came out, I was once again reminded that God is all around me. In the rain, the wind and the sun. I can only pray that I listen more closely in the future and He doesn't need to remind me quite so loudly.

After the fact, I found the wine in the fridge. Why didn't I think to grab it along with everything else? If it wasn't so wet it would have been a nice night to sit outside. I guess the 25 degree drop to 72 degrees was the silver lining of the storm.

I hope y'alls day was less eventful than mine was!

Sunday Social: Food Glorious Food

I am so sad, y'all, that I missed last week's social. I heart fall. I adore fall. I would run away and elope with fall (Sorry DH!). Fall is by far my favoritist season. But last weekend we were in San Antonio with DH's family, so I was MIA for all the great fall posts. 

Have no fear, though...I'm back! And the topic this week is also near and dear to my heart. Food.

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oh I love and hate this question! My first thought is mashed potatoes, homemade of course. But then I think what about bread? And cheese? And beer? It's a food, right? Can I pick a category of food? Thank you, I'll just have carbs. Any and all carbs. In this hypothetical world, though, I'm guessing that since we can only eat one thing that the one thing will not ever cause us to gain weight, right? Cause friends, I'll be as big as a HOUSE if all I eat are carbs!

What's your guilty pleasure/comfort food?
Doughnuts. I can eat a dozen glazed doughnuts easy. Nope, you didn't read that wrong. Cake doughnuts are my favorite but I can only eat four or five at a time since they're heavier. Just because I CAN doesn't mean that I DO. Um, so all the girls from work are not allowed to comment here. Let's pretend that never happens.

The Canadian Healthcare from Hypnotic donuts. It's amazing. Courtesy of:
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/pSZz8-G7xIUPbcGx4osgew?select=e2LKSN4Bj4oTb784U9XiGA#e2LKSN4Bj4oTb784U9XiGA

What's the weirdest/craziest thing you've ever eaten?
I think I may have tried pickled pigs feet as a kid. Not sure though. My grandmother was Czechoslovakian and made a variety of pickled foods to eat. My uncles would eat pickled pigs feet and pigs knuckles on New Year's Day every year when we grew up. I'm sure I tried them at some point. DH has eaten fried crickets. Since I'm engaged to him, can I claim that? 

What foods do you avoid at all costs?
Beets. People, listen up. Beets taste purple. Admit it, you all think they do but I'm the only one who will say something. Purple. Liver because my mom tricked us one time and told us it was steak. Yeah, sure. Not unless that steak was bad. Haggis. This hasn't yet been a problem, but DH and I have a trip coming up and something tells me that we'll be offered some haggis along with a wee dram. So I'm just preparing now to avoid it, the haggis that is.  I'm a planner like that.

What meal reminds you of your childhood?
Potato soup and homemade biscuits. My mom was a SAHM for most of the time growing up. My favorite memory is of walking in the door from school, the snowflakes still stinging my cheeks and feeling like I'd entered a giant cloud of bread. She often made bread from scratch and biscuits were always from scratch. Whenever there was soup there was biscuits or bread and cheese. I'd never thought about it until DH and I had beef stew the first time. I cut a bunch of chunks of cheese and ripped into a loaf of fresh Italian to go along with it while he looked perplexed. I assumed everyone ate these things together. 

Anyway, potato soup was a staple growing up. It was a hearty but not rich soup that had parsley and bacon or ham in it, and sometimes cheese melted through. The pot seemed gigantic when I was little but there was never very much left over. In the days that we used food wisely, it was a meal where we could eat until our little kid bellies bulged and we rolled away from the table.

I never learned how to make it. Mom, that can be my wedding present! Teach me how to make your soup.

Share one of your favorite recipes and the story behind it.

One night DH and I were jonesing for some Mexican, and we started looking through a cookbook that my bible study bought for me before I moved to Texas. Everything in the book sounded amazing but required a lot of forethought and work or special ingredients. We decided that we'd try making the enchiladas. I think the recipe called for roasting the chicken ourselves which led to us thinking "Rotisserie chicken, naturally!" and from there we chucked the book. It was a risk but really the worst that could happen is we ended up going out to eat if it was awful. They turned out to be freaking brilliant. You can jazz these up or down depending on what you like and how much heat you can stand. Substitute jalapenos for the chiles or salsa for the Ro-Tel!

DH and I's Easy Chicken Enchiladas

1 rotisserie chicken

1 regular can each of Ro-Tel, corn, black beans 

1 small can chopped green chiles

1 bag fiesta cheese or mexican cheese mix

1 jar or can of enchilada sauce - whatever flavor floats your boat

1 bag tortillas...flour work best for rolling but corn taste just as good

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Shred your chicken and add the contents of all the cans, drained. We usually leave a little bit of the rotel juice, but not much unless you want really wet enchiladas. Mix in a handful of the cheese to help it all hold together when you bake it.

Lightly oil a 13x9 pan or spread a spoonful of enchilada sauce in the bottom to help the tortillas not stick. 

Take a tortilla, swirl a little enchilada sauce on and fill with as much mixture as needed. We usually use about enough that it's sqooshing out the ends when we roll them. You'll have a LOT of the mix, so feel free to use as much as you want. Roll the filled tortilla and place seam side down in the dish. We jam as many as possible in, even along the sides. 

Cover with enchilada sauce to your liking, cover with as much cheese as you like and cover with foil. Bake for thirty minutes.

We eat the leftover filling by itself while waiting for the enchilada's to bake. it's also great in scrambled eggs in the morning. For those of you watching what you eat, according to Spark recipes they're roughly 130 cals using the corn tortilla - 3g fat, 12g carbs and 15g protein.

Next week's questions:

1. What were you like in Middle School/HS?(pictures)

2.  What were your favorite past times?

3. What songs were you obsessed with?(Backstreet Boys anyone?)

4. What fashion statement do you look back on and cringe?

5. Who was your celeb crush?

6. What were your favorite tv shows/movies?

Come link up with Neely and Ashley's Sunday Social!

Good Morning, Good Morning

If my momma is reading this then she's thinking the same thing I am....


If this is not the first thing you think then I suggest you reorganize your priorities in life.

I've always been a morning person. The downside of being a morning person is that my morning has started earlier and earlier as I've gotten older. So now sleeping in is roughly 7:30. When did that happen? Anyway, a normal morning starts around 5:30. I stumble to the kitchen hoping that Puppy didn't decide the carpet looked an awful lot like grass in the middle of the night. I'm greeted by a muddled yowling from the laundry room as Henry makes his morning presence known. He hates not being in the know, which translates roughly into "HEY! WHO'S OUT THERE? LEMME OUT? PLEASE?" As soon as I open the door he runs out and purrs like a madman while tripping over my feet. All I can think about is coffee and all he can think about is being scratched behind his ears. Self-absorbed cat. Once the illusion of caffeine is in the air I can finish the routine. Shower, where Henry makes himself known and then jumps in and lays in the water that's left once I get out. I swear he's part dog. Working in a clinic has it's advantages....grab some scrub bottoms and a t-shirt and I'm ready to go. Back into the kitchen and throw some soy or almond milk, a banana and some frozen fruit into the Ninja. Warn Henry and the Puppy that it's about to get real in the kitchen. Shake in a Nalgene and coffee in my Starbucks mug and away I go.

Mama Kat's glimpse into real life.

Happy

I'm happy. There, I said it. Happy.

Does anyone else get a little freaked when things are all going well and it looks like smooth sailing ahead? I do. I think we're trained as a society to always be looking forward to what comes next. It's a very rushed feeling. "Well now I'm happy. What don't I know I'm missing? Surely there's SOMETHING BETTER!"

And boom. We're unhappy. Because we don't know how to enjoy what we have. But don't let me presume that y'all are unhappy or unable to enjoy what you have. Maybe it's just me? Just sometimes?

Right now, though, I'm happy.

Because...

....I'm watching the season premiere of Bunheads and I've missed Amy Sherman-Palladino. A lot.
....I managed to fit in a work out even after being stuck in traffic for an hour.
....I have the man God planned for me and he is amazing and terrific and the bees knees.
....I have a fluffy orange cat who is crazy and thinks my feet are toys.
....I have a pastry class coming up in a week. I'm dreaming of butter and rolling pins and waking up with the smell of sweet pastry and cherries in my nose.


I know there's more that I'm happy because of, but I'll leave it at that.

Thanks Shell for letting me pour out my happy full heart.

Six Degrees

This weekend DH and I discovered that we can waste hours playing Six Degrees on a road trip. Initially we were going to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but realized that as prolific as Mr. Bacon is, neither DH nor I are old enough - eek! - to remember anyone else in his movies except, well, Kevin Bacon. Unless you're talking about Mystic River, then I can get somewhere. Sorry Kevin. I really do like you. *Oh wait! I just realized that Kevin Bacon in Tremors gets me to Fred Ward which leads to Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama!*

Anyway, we played for a couple hours each way and came to some conclusions.

1. If you can link an actor to Batman, you have accessed a cheat code. Like in a video game, the cast of Batman will let you link to almost 60% of the rest of Hollywood. In essence you've just jumped up six levels and suddenly have a chest full of diamond bricks kind of cheat code. Because everyone has been in Batman. Except....

2. Cheat code 2 - The Avengers. Again, a big group but not the same group as Batman. And then there's...

3. Inception. Which pretty much covers the rest of Hollywood, barring Julia Roberts.

4. The only cheat code better? Get to Samuel L. Jackson. He pretty much can get you anywhere.

Anyway, DH is a master at making the direct connection while I tend toward more obscure films and it takes me twice as long. He says that I'm a genius because he uses the same connections over and over. We're road tripping again before too long and think we should maybe come up with a list of people to pair since we started to run out of matches and we also tend to forget who we picked to link.

We spent the weekend with my future MIL and Stepdad and their puppies.I'm looking forward to becoming part of another family. Specifically DH's family.  It was a great weekend. We drove along the river in New Braunfels and spent a couple hours in Gruene. Pronounced Green for those of you not from Texas. It's where "Michael" was filmed and we grabbed a couple beers in The Gristmill which is where John Travolta spread his wings. 

It was a perfect movie ending kind of weekend.  

Cross Country

One of the scariest moments of my life was when I took a job in the Deep South. I was getting ready to graduate, I was full of expectations and hope about a new job, I had a boyfriend who was going to move to the same area...life was good. But scary.


Three years and a couple months ago I did something that a lot of people say was brave or cool or something they didn't think they could do. I packed up my graduate apartment the week after graduation and prepared to make my way in the world. Five states away. Where I had visited exactly two times - once to interview and once to find an apartment.


On a side note, if you're ever looking to get rid of most of your belongings, pay attention. First, apply for positions all over the country where you know no one. Second, take a job five states away from where you currently live. Third, realize that there is no way you can afford to hire a moving truck, have your family drive the truck while you drive you car and then pay for your family to fly home.  Four, realize with a sinking heart that the only way to do this is to ship your books via post office,  put what fits in the car and buy all new furniture once you get to your new city. Five, look at your very small very old two door car and go buy a bigger more reliable car. I guarantee that this will result in you jettisoning 95% of your belongings. By the time I was packed I couldn't even fit the Brita in my car. 


The couple days before leaving for my lonely drive to Texas was accompanied by bouts of crying, stress over what I could actually get in my car, spending sweet time with friends and returning to my childhood home for a last few precious days with my parents and family.


I think I've never been as scared as when I pulled out of my parents driveway to begin the three day drive. I pushed back second thoughts and tears for hours the first day. I kept up a pretty good front until I reached Texarkana on my second day. I had driven nine hours that day through a very gray and rainy Tennessee and Arkansas. I got to my anonymous hotel that night and lost my mind. The tears flowed and I questioned my decision to move so far away from everything and everyone I knew. I wanted to turn around and head home. But instead I went to bed, woke the next morning, did a sprint through Ikea for furniture and headed further west.


In retrospect, this was the perfect place for me to be. I love Texas, thank Heavens! I love my job...most of the time. And that boyfriend? He also got jettisoned. He couldn't fit in the car. 


Linking up with Mama Kat! Click on her button below and share some blog love with the other's linking up!