Slow Cooker Homestyle Roast Chicken

I made this roast chicken last week and it was a big hit!  My Heart's Desire liked it even more than I did.  I served it with rice and steamed vegetables.  I found the recipe online (but can't remember where, if this is your recipe, send me a link) and increased the spices since I find so many slow cooker recipes really boring.

Slow Cooker Homestyle Roast Chicken
Ingredients:
1 Whole chicken, neck and gizzards (and anything else in the chicken) thrown away

Seasonings:
1 T kosher salt
1 T paprika
1 T onion powder
1 T Italian seasoning
1 t thyme
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t black pepper

2 T crushed garlic
1 quartered onion

Mix the spices together and rub it all over the chicken, inside and out.  Add the garlic and onion and put it in the chicken.  Put the chicken in the slow cooker, breast side up.  Do not add liquid!  Put the lid on and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8.  I always use the thermometer to make sure the chicken is fully cooked.  5 hours on high and it was amazing!

The chicken fell apart when we took it out of the slow cooker.  It was so good!  It was also good as leftovers (or as my mom says, it's so good we're having it twice) and as chicken salad.

Carry the One

Carol Anshaw's Carry the One was a book that I saw mentioned in several places.  Sometimes when a book has a lot of hype it makes me not want to read it or I'm disappointed when it's not good.  I read a sample on my Kindle and was hooked.  The less you know about the story, the more you will enjoy the book.

 

 

Also, I recently learned how to download books from the library onto my Kindle and I've been reading on it a lot more. Nothing a thrifty girl like me enjoys more than library books.

2012 Goals: March Update

March was all lion, no lamb.  In the middle of the month, I got sick.  Just as I was starting to get better I got sick from something else.  I did not even manage to do the bare minimum this month.  Babyface and My Heart's Desire also got sick.  It was not fun at our house.

Writing
1) I did not do a submissions mailing this month. I had an essay in mind to revise and submit and didn't manage. 

2) My goals was to blog at least three times a week. With one post in March, I didn't even come close.  

Healthy
3) I did not log my workouts and frankly, there wasn't much to log.  I was unable to workout for almost three weeks and it really did not feel good.  My body felt stiff and I didn't sleep as well as I usually do.  Also, the person that I was sharing the Google document with hasn't logged anything (best laid plans and all that). 

I'm still planning on participating in the Earth Day 5k even though my training took a hit.  There are serious runners as well as families with strollers.  I really might be last.  And I don't care if I am. 

Romance

4) My Heart's Desire and I went out on two dates.  The first one was right before I got sick.  A friend gave My Heart's Desire tickets to a hockey game so we went.  The seats were terrific and it was a fun night.  My Heart's Desire's birthday is in March and I had arranged a sitter way in advance so that we could go out.  I still wasn't feeling well so we went to a barbeque restaurant that he likes.

Community Service

5) Finally!  I took the bags of nonperishable food I've been driving around and dropped it off.

Parenting

6) We made it to two of the three parenting classes in March. Most of the babies are older than Babyface so I get a preview of what he's going to be doing.

2012 Goals: February Update

Staring in February I've been feeling like a circus performer balancing spinning plates on sticks. My plates had dinner, clean clothes, and diapers on them. Having goals is good and some of these will have to be modified.

 Writing

1) I did not do a submissions mailing this month. March it is.

 2) My goals was to blog at least three times a week. With 6 posts this month, I was about halfway there. I'm going to try and keep some running drafts that I can work on when I get time for fits and starts, since sitting down and writing has been taking a backseat to lying down and napping.

Healthy

3) I did log all my workouts. My goal for the month was 20 workouts and I logged in 12. I went for walks, outside and on the treadmill, took a post-natal movement class, and strength training (free weights and resistance bands).

 I know that strength training is key to being healthy. It's been a long time since I did it consistently. I did a two-hour session with a personal training powerhouse that helped one of my good friends reach her fitness goals. Our session created a home workout for me to do and we agreed that four days a week was an achievable goal for me. I left with an upper body/abs and lower body/abs workout that I feel comfortable doing. The following day can best be summed up thusly: ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! I texted my friend that I didn't like her anymore. I also feel sore after I do the home workout (though not as) so I know I'm working those muscles. 

Thrifty though I am, I broke down and bought my first new pair of workout shoes in more than two years!  It's amazing how much better my knees feel post-workout when my feet are getting adequate support.

 Romance

 4) My Heart's Desire and I went out on two daytime dates! The first was lunch at my favorite Indian restaurant near his office. We used to go there a lot when we were dating so I'm a bit sentimental about the place. The food is really terrific too. On our second date we had a babysitter come over and we had frozen yogurt and went to a movie (his choice). It's hard for me to be out without Babyface and I only cried a little.

 Community Service
5) I put all the food together into bags and have been driving it around in my car.

 Parenting

6) The new session of parenting classes started and it was wonderful to see familiar faces and some new ones. All of the babies are so different it's interesting to watch them grow. Of course, I also love to see them play together, in a big old baby dogpile.  Trees Make the Best Mobiles is our unofficial text and I am loving it.

How I Know I'm A Grown Up #17

Sleeping past sunrise feels like sleeping in.

Mexican Lasagna

This dish is super easy and is mostly assembly.  Serve with sour cream, guacamole and a green salad. It's also good with Spanish rice (substitute a 1/4 cup of salsa for water in rice cooker). Yum!

Ingredients:
Flour tortillas
Jar of salsa (I like Muir Glen)
Shredded Mexican blend cheese
Can of black beans
One box of LightLife Smart Ground (It's vegetarian meat that is so good My Heart's Desire did not know if was vegetarian for years!)

Fresh or frozen diced onion

Frozen or canned corn
Can of fire roasted tomatoes

Small can of chopped or sliced olives

Guacamole
3 cloves of garlic
1 t paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt, pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*

Cook the Smart Ground with diced onions and spices.  It takes only a few minutes and since it isn't really meat, it's not greasy and there's no fat to drain.  

Spray a square Pyrex dish with Pam.

Spread salsa over the bottom of the pan.  Add a tortilla.  Pour in some ground, beans, cheese, salsa, corn, tomatoes, and olives.  Put down another tortilla and repeat a couple more times. 

On the top tortilla, pour lots of salsa, cheese, and olives.  Cover the dish in foil.

Bake covered for 20-25 mins.  Then take off the foil and bake for another 5 mins or until the cheese is all melty.

Voila!  Dinner is ready.  Makes enough to feed 2 hungry people at dinner with a leftover lunch or two.

Today I got up with Babyface, played, cared for him, had a nice chat with my sister, started reading Nourishing Traditions, cleaned the bathroom, washed my delicates with Dr. Bonner's hippie soap,  met a friend for coffee, chat and hugs, cuddled with Babyface some more, hung out with My Heart's Desire, had dinner, and am going to bed early. 

Hippie Feet

As I mentioned, I've been considering signing up for a race to motivate me.  One of my friends sent me a link to some races, and after a little back and forth, we decided to sign up for the Earth Day 5K.  If this sounds familiar, it's because I participated in this race in 2010.  It's a really pretty course and well organized. 

I haven't participated in a race since Thankgiving 2010 and am still quite rusty.  I'm going to train for distance on this race.  It's at the end of April, so I have enough time to train inside on the treadmill on bad weather days and outside on nice ones.   

Slow in Love

One of the things that I got for Christmas was a slow cooker. I really wanted one.  My Heart's Desire fears that it will burn down our house but I have no such fear.  It immediately became a kitchen favorite!  Easy and delicious, what else does a soon-to-be-working mom need?

I've made about eight different things in it by now and some have been great and others have been not great.  Still, we haven't had to order pizza even with the flops.

My favorite thing so far has been Slow Cooker Jambalaya.  Real Jambalaya has shrimp and other delights from the sea.  Mine does not.  When I was pregnant with Babyface, I had an allergic reaction to shellfish and I am scared to eat it now.  Anyway, feel free to add some cooked shrimp at the end if you like.

Slow Cooker Jambalaya
1lb of chicken breasts or strips, cut into one-inch pieces
1/3 or 1/2 of turkey kielbasa, cut into one-inch pieces
2 green peppers, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
3 oz tomato paste
1 can beef broth
1 can small red beans
1 T parsley
1 1/2 t basil
1/2 t oregano
1 t Tabasco
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t salt
3 cups cooked rice (I used the rice cooker)

Toss all ingredients except rice into the slow cooker.  Cook on low for six hours.  If you want to add cooked shrimp, put in for the last 20 minutes or so.  Pour over rice and serve.  Voila!  My Heart's Desire liked it too.

Today I am grateful for Babyface sleeping through the night, magazines, my slow cooker, hot water, comfy clothes, neti pot, thrift stores, patience, jazz vocals, and that I know how to type.

2012 Goals: January Update

January has been a great getting started month.  I like having concrete goals so that I know how I'm doing.  I am feeling more like myself more and more.

Writing
1) I did not do a submissions mailing this month. That will have to happen in February or March.
2) My goals was to blog at least three times a week.  With 9 posts this month, I'm short.  The more I blog, the more I have to blog about. If there's anything you want me to blog about, just let me know in the comments.

Healthy
3) I did log all my workouts and found my thoughts shifting from, "I don't have time to do a full workout so I'll wait" to "Even a short workout is good stuff" and that helped change my mindset from not having enough time to workout to fitting in workouts when I can.  I've been a little discouraged about how slow I am.  This is kind of silly, but to remind myself that I have fitness achievements to be proud of, when I need a boost I wear my sneakers that have the tag from when I participated in the Philadelphia Half Marathon.

I prefer to workout in the morning but have been taking opportunities for workouts wherever I find them. I went for walks, outside and on the treadmill, did Yoga, and strength training (free weights and resistance bands).  My goal for the month was 20 workouts and I logged in 16.  I woke up with a cold over the weekend so I wasn't able to get in the last 4.  Still, I feel good about getting in 16.  In December I probably worked out 10 times.

Romance
4) My Heart's Desire and I did go on a date.  It takes a lot more effort, energy, and planning to go on dates since Babyface was born.  We did hire a sitter and went out on a Saturday afternoon.  Yes, afternoon.  I get up so early with Babyface that an evening out wouldn't be fun.  My Heart's Desire and I had a leisurely late lunch at his favorite restaurant and it was really nice.  We could have eaten anywhere and I would have been happy.  Unless Babyface is sleeping, it's hard for My Heart's Desire and I to sit down together and share meals. 

Community Service
5) I am collecting food to make a donation.  We went to Costco and got some peanut butter, tuna fish, pasta, and other good stuff.  Now all I have to do is put it together and drop it off.

Parenting
6) I am continuing to take parenting classes.  Our small group has been together since September and it's been wonderful to connect as mothers and to see all of the babies (all of them were born in June and July) grow together.  The teacher is an expert in infant movement and really encourages us to let babies learn in their own way and in their own time.  It's really helped me not stress out about milestones. 

The American Heiress

Daisy Goodwin's The American Heiress can be summed up in one word: meh. This book could have been good, but wasn't. It was impossible to care about the spoiled title character.  I was more interested in her maid's romance but that story was told in unsatisfying fits and starts.  When I was in a MFA program, we were often encouraged to tell a story from another point of view.  Those exercises are included (a chapter by the heiress' hat maker) to the story's detriment.  Why did I keep reading?  Good writing. 

Pasta Yum

I was talking to a friend about easy weeknight dinners, and Pasta Yum immediately came to mind. It’s so good and really fast to make. My mom gave me the recipe, which my brother shared from Vegan Yum Yum. Though the ingredients are strange, together it is amazing.  Just don't let anyone watch you make it.

The sauce does not keep well, so there's no making a batch and using a little here or there. While this will produce leftovers, they're not as good as fresh. So if you're making it for two people, I'd halve the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 box pasta (I like fusilli or rigatoni, but whatever you have is fine)

½ - 1 bag of frozen broccoli

A handful of sun-dried tomatoes (if you don't have any, it's fine without)

1 cup soymilk (I use plain)
1/3 cup cashews
¼ cup nutritional yeast (buy in bulk section at hippie store or Whole Foods, since you need so little)
3 T low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
2 T margarine (or butter, if not making vegan)
1 heaping T tahini
1 T lemon juice
1 t mustard
½ t paprika
1 pinch nutmeg
2-4 cloves of garlic (I use jars of crushed garlic or the tube of pureed)

Directions:

Put the water on to boil and gather all of the ingredients.

While pasta cooks according to instructions on box, put everything from soy milk - garlic into the blender and blend.

When the pasta is almost done, toss in the frozen broccoli. If you're crazy about broccoli like I am, toss in the whole bag, otherwise half a bag is fine.

Drain pasta and broccoli, and toss the sun-dried tomatoes in the colander so they get warmed too.

Put the pasta, broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes back in pot, stir in sauce from blender, and serve immediately.
 

Today I am grateful for sleep, a working furnace, cuddles with Babyface, my slow cooker, old family recipes, a gift card for a lovely massage, listening to a great book where the narrator has an Irish accent, teaching a dad-to-be how to change a diaper and taking the mystery out of it, and that My Heart's Desire came home with cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake.

Baby, it's cold outside

One of my first quarter goals is to workout 20 times a month.  I keep track on a spreadsheet and am doing well so far. The best time for me to workout is in the morning, when Babyface is still sleeping.  However, not only is it dark outside (we're talking an hour and a half before sunrise), it's also cold.  Despite the mild winter we've been having, it's still way too cold to go out in the early am darkness.  So I've been doing DVDs, Yoga, and using the treadmill. 

I'm considering psyching myself up to train for a 5K in the spring, though am so slow right now I really might beat my personal slowest time of coming in second to last.  I'm also trying to remind myself that though I prefer to workout in the morning, I really can do it anytime.  Last night I laced up my sneakers and went for an evening walk.  It wasn't great, but it was something. 

The Lost Wife

I read so many books with wife in the title —The 19th Wife, The 9th Wife, The Senator's Wife, The Pretend Wife, The Pilot's Wife, The Time Travelers Wife, The Spare Wife, The Wife's Tale, American Wife — that I imposed a girl-cott on reading any others.  I made an exception for this book. 

Alyson Richman's The Lost Wife is historical fiction at it's best: well-written, intriguing, and educational.  A Jewish couple who marry in Prague are separated a few days later when the bride refuses to leave the country without her family.  This isn't a love story, it's what happens during the 60 years that they are apart, each having learned that the other was dead.  The book starts at the end, where they meet at a wedding all those years later.  I bought this book on my Kindle and could hardly put it down until I was done.

Today I am grateful for sunshine, clean water, Netflix on Roku, fleece pants, gift cards, reading glasses, and a mobile phone that works.

2012 Goals: First Quarter

What I really need to go is start at the beginning with almost everything.  These are things that I think that I can achieve.  If all goes well, my goals for next quarter will be a little more ambitious.

Here are my goals for January - March:

Writing
1) Know what's at least as important as actually writing?  Submitting.  My goal for this quarter is to do one mailing and submit polished work for publication. 
2) Blog at least three times a week.  I like doing it and sometimes it gets the ball rolling for other writing.

Healthy
3) It's time to get the booty moving! I agreed to share a google document with a friend to be accountable and commit to working out.  I really feel better when I workout and I'm a beginner again.  I'm going to log all my workouts and commit to 20 in 30 days.

Romance
4) My Heart's Desire and I will go on dates at least once a month.  We will leave Babyface with a sitter and go out together.  We haven't done this much since he was born, but I will make it a priority.

Community Service
5) Make a donation to a local food bank. I know they get a lot of donations around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but people are hungry in January too.  When we go to Costco, I'm planning to pick up some things (peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, cereal, etc)  to donate.

Parenting
6) It's really important for me to learn how to be a good parent.  I've been taking parenting education classes and want to continue to do so.  I learn a lot from books, but it's also important to learn from professionals and be around peers who are going through similar experiences.

UPDATE: These goals were mentioned in the National Endowment for the Arts The Write Stuff blog!

2012 Goals

As previously mentioned, I've been mulling over what to do for the New Year.  What I've decided is to set goals for every quarter, rather than annual goals like I did in 2010 and 2009. Last year I was so exhausted I didn't set any goals and barely blogged at all. 
This year I'm going to set smaller goals in four month terms, which seems more attainable than setting big annual ones.  I also do well when I can break a big goal into several smaller chunks.  Wish me luck!

2011 Greatest Hits

Oh, Boy!
My life changed this year. I had a beautiful son in July.  I had a complicated pregnancy and he was delivered early. The rough start was scary but he is healthy and doing very well.  My Heart's Desire and I are over the moon and love being parents to Babyface. 

The first part of the year was consumed by getting ready for Babyface.  We took lots of classes to get ready for his arrival.  Once Babyface came home from the hospital, I felt like we were in a bunker.  For months we were on his 24 hour a day schedule.  Once he started sleeping through the night, I began emerging from the bunker little by little.  I have continued to take classes and joined several groups.

I was so loved on my wedding day and thought that was the most loved I would ever feel, but I was overwhelmed with love and support when I was pregnant and when Babyface was born.  People came out of the woodwork to love Babyface.  I'm so grateful for all the love pouring into our new family.

It's All Relative
After Babyface was born, everyone in our immediate family traveled from far and wide to come and love him, including some relatives who hadn't been here in ages.  It was wonderful to have family here and for them to meet him.  Everyone brought or made food and took care of Babyface so My Heart's Desire and I could rest. 

Books
My sister handed down her Kindle to me. I had been reluctant to use an E-reader because I love books and spend enough time staring at screens. To my surprise, it is very easy to read on and doesn't feel like reading on a computer screen, which I really don't like.  Also, when I was on bed rest and couldn't make it to the library or bookstore, I still had reading material at my fingertips.  I could download books and just carry the Kindle, which is lighter than a paper book. When we went to Florida, I just took the Kindle and it was the first time I had traveled with no books. 

Family Traditions

My Heart's Desire likes to make Christmas ornaments with mementos from our year.  This year we have a special frame to celebrate our baby's first Christmas.  In addition, we have had professional photographs taken of the baby and our family.  These photographs are family treasures!

Guilty Pleasure
Subscribing to HBO.  We'd lived happily without any premium cable channels for years but I couldn't resist the siren call of True Blood.  Lafayette steals the show.

Used Bookstore
The Friends of the Montgomery County bookstores. They have great books at bargain prices.  Also I have found some books in great shape for Babyface.

Local Getaway

I won a night at the Morrison House in their Valentine's Day promotion of Facebook and it was wonderful. I was pregnant and tired so the night in a fancy hotel room across town was lovely.  We could have done more around Alexandria but once we came across Girl Scouts selling Samoas, I was content.

Merry and bright

This year we traveled for the holidays and the wreath was the only holiday decoration we put up.  No stockings, no holiday linens, no lights. 

At first I felt a little Grinchy, as I do love to make the house festive, but I really didn't need more things to do.  I also didn't make Christmas cookies (gasp!), watch Christmas Vacation, or make a holiday music CD.  It still felt like Christmas.

I managed to watch Love Actually, write Christmas cards, and bake loads of oatmeal cookies. I also played a lot of holiday music.  Our travels were to see My Heart's Desire's 100-year old great-Aunt in Florida and I was glad we went.  The weather was great and I also got to go for a traditional Christmas swim.

Today I got up early and did chores, including cleaning two bathrooms, made a weekend breakfast of baked eggs on an English muffin with cheese, hung out with my family, did five loads of laundry and actually folded it all and put it away, combined two oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars with disastrous (read: inedible) results, went out and got a much needed mani-pedi (my first one in months!) in Mademoiselle, made a half batch of oatmeal chocolate chip bars from the recipe I know is good, shared leftover pizza for dinner with My Heart's Desire, watched an episode of Arrested Development on Netflix (we are hooked on this show), and am going to bed early. 

Grateful

Today I am grateful for: my mentor, the clerk at Macy's who scanned a coupon and saved me $9 on a $44 purchase, having a tank full of gas, finally paying off my overdue library fines (My Heart's Desire is good at many, many things but returning things to the library isn't one of them) so I can check out books, brisk weather, community, and family and friends near and far.

2012

2012 is just around the corner and I am mulling over what I want to focus on in the new year.  In 2009 I set commandments, which were helpful but hard to measure the outcome.  I set ambitious goals in 2010 and reported that I met some of them more successfully than others.  What is it that I want to put into 2012?  What do I want to get out of it?  

The Night Circus

The first chapter of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was so intriguing that after reading it, I immediately bought the book on my Kindle and dove in.  However, was was so intriguing in the beginning of the story became tedious by the middle.  I couldn't wait for it to end.  If it had been a library book, I would have put it down but since I paid for it, I finished it.  The story is interesting and fantastic (A Night Circus!  Magic!  Love!  A Game!  Dreamers!) but it reads like a well-thought out script, rather than a novel.  I also didn't really connect with the main love story.  I have a feeling this will probably become a movie and it has the potential to be a really good one.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

My sister gave me this recipe and it is really good! I liked it so much I doubled it and made pumpkin oatmeal bread too.  The muffins also freeze beautifully. 

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

I also made orange cream cheese to go with them since we were having company. That's right, sometimes I'm fancy. Mix 2T of orange juice concentrate with a half package of cream cheese and a little powdered sugar, then mix with hand blender until fluffy.  It's best to make the cream cheese the day before.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup quick oats (I used old-fashioned)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins (I left out, I don't like raisins in food)
1/2 cup walnuts
1 large egg, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
1 cup solid-pack canned pumpkin

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl; then stir in oats, brown sugar, nuts and raisins.

In a medium bowl, combine egg, oil, milk and pumpkin, blending well.

Stir pumpkin mixture into dry ingredients until just moist. Fill muffin tins with batter and bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until tops spring back when lightly touched.

Today I am grateful for holiday music, my new phone, having heat, the spirit of the season, books, and homemade granola.

Blueprints for Building Better Girls

I heard good things about Elissa Schappell's related stories in Blueprints for Building Better Girls and had pretty high expectations.  I'm the kind of reader that ordinarily will wait for paperback or get it from the library.  For this book, I hoped for the best.  And I was not disappointed.  At once honest, sharp, and tender, I could not put this book down. 

Today I am grateful for my candy cane flannel pajama pants (which I have been living in lately), chamomile tea, hugs, old-fashioned correspondence, and my family.

Delicious & Easy Roast Chicken and Potatoes

I made this for the first time last month and it was a big hit around here!  I was very impressed with myself.

This recipe is just prep, assemble, then walk away as it roasts.  It's done when the chicken is fully cooked and the potatoes are soft in the middle.  Because it cooks so slowly, the chicken is really juicy.  You could also do a million things with the leftovers.

One chicken, already cut up
Potatoes
Onion
2 T olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400* while you wash and chop potatoes and onions.  Next time I'll make the potatoes a little bit smaller than pictured.  Pour the olive oil, some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika in a large roasting pan.  Add the veggies and stir.  Then season the chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika.  Add the chicken to the roasting pan, skin side up.  Set the timer for an hour and walk away.  The house will smell really good as it cooks!  Check it after an hour (use a thermometer).  Last night's chicken was 4.5lbs and took 1 hr 20 mins to cook.  And it was great!

View From A Room

I love fall!  And I have quite a view of it from my very own window.  I love this time of year when the leaves are crunchy and it's just a little chilly.  My CSA offers Honeycrisp apples, which became my favorite kind of apple last year.  My Heart's Desire spent some of the weekend splitting firewood and our first fire of the season will be coming soon!

April Fools in Love

On this day four years ago, I walked down the aisle to Barry White's "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" and married My Heart's Desire.

How to Bake a Perfect Life

I picked up How to Bake a Perfect Life: A Novel from Target (yes, I had a gift card). I love books that are about family relationships between women and this book had complex relationships in spades, mother/daughter, grandmother/granddaughter, sisters, aunt/niece, and more. The book features three different points of view and was an enjoyable read. Since the mother owns a bakery, it also had recipes! (6)

Spring is in the air!

Today I got up early and read, admired my blooming hyacinth, forsythia, and daffodils, met a friend for lunch (falafel salad, yum!), took a leisurely stroll, decided the out the door and down three stores line was just too long to stand in for cupcakes, hung out at home, and went out to dinner with My Heart's Desire.

Townie

I heard Andre Dubus III read at a university event last year and it was my favorite reading ever. I went because of how much I liked House of Sand and Fog.

 I got my hands on Townie: A Memoir when it was hot off the presses.  Yes, it is in hardback so I used a gift card and a coupon. This memoir pulls no punches, is dark, violent and heartbreaking, and most of all is the story of a writer.

I really enjoyed (perhaps consumed would be a better word) this book and immediately shared it with my honorary Jewish grandmother so that she could read it too.  (5)

Books I wanted to like but didn't

I had high hopes for Karen Russell's Swamplandia!.  Everywhere I looked, I saw good reviews.  I had a coupon and a Groupon (!) so I bought this book in hardback.  Hardback's not something I usually do.  In fact, if you were to open most of my hardbacks and peek at the front page, you would probably find inscriptions on them since most hardbacks I have were gifts.  Alas, this book did not live up to the considerable hype.  (3)

I'll admit it, I liked Ann Brashares Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, Book 1).  I even saw both movies in the theater.  So I thought her novel for adults, My Name Is Memory, would be good.  Instead, it wasn't.  (4)

Today I am grateful for comfy clothes, online newspapers, Green Monsters for breakfast, Barry White songs, books on CD from the library, Roku (My Heart's Desire and I are totally hooked), spring is 17 days away, already joined CSA so have fresh, local produce to look forward to, being happy for other people, costume jewelry, Girl Scout cookie season, and one of my favorite children's books, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Perfect Getaway

Before Valentine's Day, I entered the Morrison House's Facebook contest: Share your most memorable Valentine's Day and be automatically entered to win a Free 1-night stay.  I happen to have a story for such an occasion. 

For our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple, My Heart's Desire arranged to have a lovely orchid sent to my office. Unfortunately, there was a DC area blizzard and no delivery trucks could brave the roads. On February 15th, a dead orchid arrived on my desk. We still laugh about it.

And that story won the free night at the fancy hotel!

I received in the mail a package of hotel information and a gift certificate good for one year.  I was not about to wait, I've been slightly stir crazy and need of a getaway.

After a leisurely Saturday morning at home, My Heart's Desire and I packed one very small bag and headed across town.  We stopped first at the charming Del Ray neighborhood and bought some cheese and a fresh baguette from a cheese boutique, browsed at local shops and art galleries, tried key lime custard for the first time, and strolled in the sunshine.

 We have been to the Morrison House before, for a wedding in September, and thought it was lovely.  We checked in and found waiting in our room a selection of truffles, healthy juices, and an orchid as a gift!  It really was above and beyond our expectations. The room itself was fabulous!

On Saturday evening, we walked around Old Town and had a light dinner.  Many of the shops were closed, so after room service pancakes on Sunday morning, we resumed our walk.  We visited the Torpedo Factory (former torpedo factory, now art studios and galleries), many small boutiques, walked around, had lunch, purchased Girl Scout cookies, and headed back home, relaxed and happy. 

Today I am grateful for: reading glasses = 98% fewer headaches!!! (and I can whip them off dramatically when I want to make a point), hot chocolate with mini marshmallows, good books, only 33 days until Spring, sound machines, Roku, and looking on the bright side.

You Know When the Men Are Gone

One of the members of my writing group lent me Siobahn Fallon's You Know When the Men Are Gone, a collection of related short stories about the Army wives of deployed soldiers and what their lives are like.  Well written and engaging, I sat down with this book and didn't get up until 90 minutes later when I was done, and wished there was more. (2)

Today I woke early to the sounds of a wood chipper on my street, enjoyed pre-Valentine's Day pancakes My Heart's Desire cooked (all the tastier because I had nothing to do with making them), tided up the house a little bit, got a huge kick out of Cash Peter's Gullible's Travels: The Adventures of a Bad Taste Tourist (3) that my colleague lent me and now have a desire to go to the Museum of Bad Art, did laundry, talked to one of my favorite aunts, had friends over for Middle Eastern food dinner, played Bop It with their 10-year-old daughter (I got to 50!), nibbled on mini cupcakes and brownies, warmed myself by the fire My Heart's Desire made, chatted up the proverbial storm with my BFF, and now am going back to the fire.

Who are you calling cheap?

I finally read Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell, which explores where bargains come from and what the real costs are.  The history of retail discounting and the far-reaching consequences are discussed, as well as the human and environmental costs of inexpensive goods and food.  And it shows what, exactly, you are supporting when you buy a (practically disposable) coffee table from IKEA, cheap toothpaste from Wal-Mart, or eat all the shrimp you can at Red Lobster for one low price.  Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture shows how quality and craftsmanship have been traded for fun design at low prices and how that affects workers, the environment, and American businesses.  (1)

2010 Goals Report

Read/Write/Blog

1. Read 100 books this year. Fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction, books on CD, I did it. My favorite book of the year was definitely Emma Donoghue's Room. The runners up were The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

2. My goal was to meet with my awesome writing group four times this year. We met at least that many times for workshops, coffees, dinner, and attending author readings. I'm really glad that we met more regularly.

3. Submit, submit, submit. That's right — to do three submissions mailings. I managed to do two submissions and complain a lot. I did the essay submission to Real Simple and also submitted poems to some literary journals.

4. Blog regularly. I aimed for 200 blog posts this year. I tried, but I ended up with 166 posts, which was close, but a lot more posts than 2009 (112).

 

Healthy  

5. Participate in two races. For one of them, raise money for a worthy cause.  For the other one, go outside my comfort zone. Participate in two races? In 2010, I participated in five 5Ks: Earth Day, Eating Disorder Awareness, Girls on the Run, Race for the Cure, and a Turkey Trot. I raised $615 for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  And I went way outside my comfort zone and trained all summer for the Philadelphia Half Marathon! I never would have even considered it but a healthy friend pushed me to sign up for the challenge.

 

6. Eat vegetarian food 90% of the time. I have not been keeping track of how often I eat meat, but I do eat a lot of vegetarian meals. Also, joining the CSA put a lot of fresh, local produce on the table for 24 weeks, and I felt good about that. Two other farmer's market near me sell eggs, chicken, and meat that are from humane family farms.

Fun & Friends

 7. Try 10 new things. Some of the new things I tried included:

•  Visiting the "What Makes Us Laugh?" exhibit at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore
• Going canoeing with My Heart's Desire at a local lake
• Attending a conference for fun
• New foods, including barbequed shrimp and beignets (in New Orleans), honey crisp apples and spaghetti squash (from the CSA), new recipes (including Pasta Yum, Hurry Up Alfredo with less mustard over pasta, the sauce is also great on steamed spinach), and several new restaurants
• Taking a 2.5 hour walk/jogging tour of NYC
• Giving out free hugs in Times Square
• Visiting a charming town on the seashore for my cousin's wedding with my mom and My Heart's Desire 
• Cruising around Maui in a Jeep Wrangler (so fun!), where we hiked around different parks, took lots of photos, and admired the views from the volcano

 8. Show that friendship is important. My goal was to make plans to see friends at least once a week. I almost always exceeded this goal, and found that making it a priority meant I was more likely to do it.

 9. Have fun with My Heart’s Desire at least once a month. We enjoyed cooking, going out for live comedy, our 4th annual Independence Day barbeque, visiting museums, going on walks, trying new restaurants, traveling (Maui was just amazing), watching movies, and lounging by the fire.

10. Get a decent photo taken with My Heart’s Desire. It's true that we haven’t had a good one taken since our wedding. And I pretty much gave up on this idea for 2010.

While I did not meet all of my goals perfectly, I do feel great about the goals I did achieve. Having concrete goals was really helpful and gave me specific things to focus on (run two races, train for ambitious race) rather than vague generalities like be healthy or exercise more. And almost every month I posted a report about how it was going with the goals. I'm still mulling over my goals for 2011.

Happy New Year!

Today I am grateful for: being home, having our traditional New Year's Eve carpet picnic with My Heart's Desire, sparkling apple cider, catching up on sleep, appreciating what I have, the long weekend, and lots of firewood for fires!