Healthy Living- Yes you CAN cook

I'm really bad at this healthy living thing.  I swear I want to do the segment, but... I'm just not that healthy to be honest.  Like I said in the beginning.  It's a work in progress, and it needs a lot of help!


But while I'm not the healthiest person you know, here are some excellent reads from people who are.


My dear friend wrote this short essay.  It's in a contest, so feel free to read others and make a vote.  You can find her essay here.  Keep in mind it's meant as a motivation, though.  It's not quite a "how to".  I'm sure if you want a "how to" I can probably convince her to write a guest post or something?  She loves cooking.  


Another wonderful lady, whom I rave about constantly does a segment called "eat well" and so far she's covered some things that I gotta be honest, I'd never even heard of!  But it looks yummy and her kids eat it.  How can you pass that up?  Check them out on her blog.  She has a few awesome posts titled Eat well-... 


And if you're interested, I have a mean chicken pot pie recipe from Paula Deen.  I worked on it a little, and after some serious math skills, I discovered it's not even that bad for you!!!!!  Of course, I said I made some changes.  Took out some butter, added a few more veggies.


Do you have any favorite recipes?  What are your secret guilty foods?  Mine is anything chocolate.  What are your favorite health foods?  

Happy Belated 4th of July

I must admit- this is my absolute favorite time of year, and always has been.

Summer is the best season.  Yeah yeah, I know it's hot, but there are so many ways to relieve the heat!  Jump in a pool, slip on a slide, hang out in the shade, oil up and take a nap... or drink.  I dont' do a lot of the last, but you know... It's supposed to help.

I am a summer baby.  I love the heat and all it's glory.  I love to camp, to swim, to ride horses, to drive in convertibles, and to have fun outdoors.  You just can't do that as much in the winter. 

But what I love most- the fireworks.  They have always amazed me.  It's partly because I can't quite wrap my head around them.  How do they make the shapes?  Seriously, how do you pack explosives in a way to send things in a certain direction?  I can understand the chemistry of the lights and the sounds and the timing.  It's the shapes that are mind boggling. 

But they're gorgeous.  Seriously, who doesn't love fireworks?

I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday.

The Dreaded Father's Day

I wrote this post a couple weeks ago, but couldn't post it immediately.  It's a delicate subject, ya know?


About 3 years ago my Dad's company held their bi-annual company picnic at King's Island.  As someone who was working there, I managed to wiggle my schedule enough that I would at least get to see him that morning (July was by far the busiest month at the park).  Mike and I spent all morning with them.  We split up pretty early, and it just felt odd.  I mean, I had to obtain Mike's ticket- my dad found an excuse for not getting him one.  Everyone knew how tense Dad was about me dating someone who wasn't (and still isn't) white.


That was the last time I saw my Dad.


I was having a birthday party in a month and everyone at the party already knew I was moving in with Mike in September.  Everyone except my Dad.  So a few weeks after the trip to KI, I called him up and let him know.  It didn't go over so well.  We yelled, we got disconnected, he called back and yelled at me for hanging up on him (I was driving- I went through a bad signal spot).  We yelled some more.  He hung up on me.  I called him back 4 times.  Finally his wife answered and said he didn't want to speak to me.


I could sit here and say I was absolutely shocked.  But unfortunately that would be a lie.  I was totally expecting it.  Doesn't mean that the actual words didn't hurt.  They still hurt today.  You wouldn't believe how many different ways I've learned to cope with the pain.


6 months later Mike proposed.  I wrote my Dad a letter.  I told him about it, and told him how much I missed him, and asked him to participate.  That Mike and I were an Us now.  Not just me.  He wrote back and turned every nice thing I said into something hateful.  He was mean.  I gave up.  I responded with every thought that I had formed and told him how awful he was for doing this.


1 year and 6 months later- It's Father's Day (oh how I hate this day).  One of my best friends was married 2 days earlier, Mike's best man was married the day before.  Our wedding was in 5 days.  It was my last shot- I called him.  It went exactly as I had expected.  He shot me down.  He even had the nerve to say "Had I voiced my opinions sooner, maybe things could have been different."


I hate Father's Day.  Today marks the 1 year anniversary of that horrible call.


But today is going to be different.  We're starting new holidays for us.  Not ones where we celebrate our own Father's, but one where we celebrate us as parents.

Happy Father's-To-Be Day, Mike.  I love you.  And yes, I'm terrified.


This also explains the lack of posts lately.  Because, quite frankly, when you have one big thing on your mind, it's hard to NOT write a post about it.  Now that I have, I will try my best to keep my blog from being over-run with pregnancy posts.  Please keep in mind I said TRY.

Weekend Wish- Many more weekends just like this

This weekend marks the 1 year anniversary of my beloved wedding.  What on Earth are we doing to celebrate, you ask?

We have a whole weekend of plans.

First, we are hopefully buying me a new car.  We say hopefully because we are ONLY buying the new car if the deal is exactly what they say it is.  We aren't going to go crazy and up our monthly expenses if we can avoid it.  So here's to hoping.  I'm in love with the Carmine Red Toyota Yaris 5 door hatchback!

Then, if I can convince my very thrifty husband (thankfully.  Because we all know I'm most certainly not the thrifty one in this household.) to go shopping, we are going to update our wardrobes.  Mainly, I need shoes and tops.  We both need jeans.  He probably needs socks.  Stuff like that.  We all know how badly things can get worn... And our wardrobes need some help lately.

After a long evening running around and stressing over cars and clothes, we are going to enjoy an absolutely scrumptious meal at Benihana's.  Or, at least I think we're going to Benihana's.  It's our favorite.  We never actually said where we were going though... Ah the communication of a married couple.

And then we'll head home, where I will fall asleep from utter exhaustion.

Ah, yes, a totally unique and awesome weekend ahead.  Ok, so it's not a vacation, or a super awesome gift, but it's exactly what we like.  We aren't big on huge celebrations.  We are pretty much a happy couple all year round, and while we understand that it's a big occasion, we also understand that there will be many more for years to come (hopefully.  Don't wanna jinx it.)

Enjoy the beautiful weekend, everyone!

The Great Debate!

I have a forbidden love interest- a new (er) car.  I currently own a beautiful 3 yr old Toyota Yaris, that I happily love.  However, it has some issues- like accessability.  It's a wonderful 3 door hatchback with a large spacious interior (Surprise!  Most people think they're TINY inside.  But they aren't!  I promise).  However, the problem is it only has 2 doors to the front- and very poor access to the back seat. 

Not a big deal, I guess.  But then they came out with the FIVE door hatchback, and I instantly fell in love.  It was everything I needed!  But alas, my car was still very new, and if anything, Mike's car needs replaced.  It's 6 years old, and running GREAT.  But the dashboard is crapping out.  The speedometer rarely works at all.  The gas gauge is starting to fail as well.  We're hoping the RPM continues to work, but who knows?

AND then there's finances.  Mike's car was paid off.  His parents bought it for him (something about his awesome grades freshman year?) and we've only had to carry insurance on it.  Buying him a new car isn't exactly in the works yet. 

BUT THEN!!!!  The plot thickens.  Toyota has massive recalls all over! (The yaris was never on the list.  I'm very happy for that.)  They've lost a ton of business!  This is horrible news, right?  Not for us!  My dealership offered me 0% interest for 5 years and a guarantee that if I trade in my current Yaris, I can get a new car for the same monthly price!  So basically, yeah they're gonna tack on a few years to the loan (maybe?) but for the short term, it doesn't hurt us financially!

OOOOH those sneaky car salesmen.  They really did it this time.  What do you think?  It's a good deal, right?  It's the car I've been wanting, it's not going to kill us financially, and to be honest, we're gonna want a bigger car eventually and the deals aren't going to get any better.

Am I right or am I right?  Opinions?  Am I being dooped?