Not ignoring you!

Or rather...I'm sort of ignoring everything right now. I have my debut Slumber Party on Tuesday and then two other parties already booked, and I'm ... going a little crazy trying to get everything planned. It would help if I would just sit down and write my notes instead of reading all the books, cleaning my house, getting distracted with anything and everything and being worried that I'd wing it.  Four years of Speech Team taught me that I'm an excellent improv speaker, but those were 5 minute speeches, not 90 minute presentations.  must...get...this...done!

I'm not entirely sure what my husband thinks of our kitchen table being covered in demo 'toys' but he hasn't complained yet.  I think he is intrigued.  I am hoping to book more parties off of the three I have coming up and then work from there.  I swear I have non-toy related recipes, and updates to make when life is a little calmer!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
back to work.

My grocery dilemma...

My husband and I have a grocery budget. Or at least we are supposed to. Sadly, the hundreds of dollars that we blow at Costco every month on God knows what, don't seem to be a part of that budget, and yet we were still spending them.  So after realizing that we were pretty low in cash this pay period (thank you medical bills!) I decided we didn't really need to go shopping for two weeks.  I made smoothies out of old fruit, we ate pasta, the sauce my dad canned this summer, all our veggies, meat from the freezer, and more stuff from the freezer, and ate at our friend's houses, and tonight I might have picked up dinner. Okay, so no, we didn't not buy food for two weeks, we just didn't use our shopping budget, we had to use our own fundage if we wanted anything extra.  It seemed to work except that I've been trying to make a meal plan for the last 4 days and I'm stuck.  I'm not really sure why.  My brain is sort of in a muddle as I contemplate what foods I should buy. We desperately need  fresh veggies and fruits. At this point all we've got are some leeks I bought for soup that we ate the potatoes for a week ago. The husband cleared us out of smoothies, any milk products, anything with the word juice in it, and any snacks I shoved his direction.  Tonight he was dying to open our last bottle of Martinelli's Apple cider (that I wisely hid in the pantry and forgot about), and I offered to make him lemonade instead. I heated up some water, poured a bunch of True Lemon in it, and squirted some honey in. He said, "I don't like it, but I can deal." Eh, I'll take it.  I wasn't trying very hard to impress him.

Please note that we still have food in the house, and if it weren't for my need for ketchup (still can't find mine--whoever stole it is going to hell because taking my ketchup is a sick sick joke!) and nail polish remover (they won't be used together!) I would probably attempt to avoid going to the store this week either. I find though that I'm doing a craptastic job of being all domestic like and cooking lately and my other half isn't really a fan of dinner duty. 

Instead of that shopping list which is still avoiding being written, I'll just post some recipes that I'm excited to make. Maybe I'll feel motivated, or maybe I'll spend 5 hours on pinterest and get nothing done.  

1. Paleo Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

http://pinterest.com/pin/56154326573776047/

Yumm...these look good. I've got all of the ingredients, even after not grocery shopping in weeks. Once again, if it weren't for that damn ketchup, I just wouldn't go! I'm leaving the walnuts out though since neither of us can eat them. 

2. Spinach Bites

http://pinterest.com/pin/56154326573776997/

This is from my friend's blog and they are amazing. How do I know this? Because the perk of babysitting for her daughter was getting to taste test these puppies. I detest boiled, steamed, cooked spinach.  The first time my grandmother gave it to me, I spit it back out on her.  No joke -- sorry grandma! These things are nothing like that boiled mess though.  The spices and potato give them great texture and flavor, while baking them gives them an awesome crunch. There is no overwhelming spinach flavor unless (I think) you make them super thick.  Think of them as a healthy green french fry thingy.  Just do it, and you'll thank me me later.  Spinach is our friend! Popeye had it right, even if I thought he was lying for most of my life. 

3. Sweet Butternut Squash mash yumminess (yes, my super professional chef name!)

Please for the love of God, just buy it pre-peeled and cut! Save your fingers...or in this case mine. Actually the real issue is that butternut squash, while I love it, lasts for-ever. So I just let it sit and think about how I want to eat it...for months.  If I buy it already cut, it's got a pretty clear expiration date, and I actually will EAT it.  Is that cheating?  You can judge me while I'm eating my butternut squash mash with a teeny bit of brown sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg. Judge away, but I'm not sharing.

4. Anything on this page

It just looks delish...http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/category/dinner/

specifically these: http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2012/02/moroccan-meatballs-with-citrus-glazed-carrots/ which will be gracing my kitchen after I do a spice inventory tomorrow morning. 

This website isn't strictly paleo but she's got a paleo section that looks amazing.  

I would love to do the paleo diet and give up all (or most) grains, legumes, and dairy. I already know dairy and I had a love affair that needed to end.  My bronchial tubes thanked me for that, and I figured out the cause of my decade long headaches.  Grains are a hard one though. I don't doubt that cutting them out would make a difference in my health and weight loss. It's just hard, and I don't need people who are already drinking the kool-aid to harass me unless they want to get slapped. 

I like the idea of the paleo diet except for a few sticking points-I don't eat pork and can't make myself eat most fish.  This means that I'm missing out on the, seemingly vital food group: Bacon. Ugh...sorry guys, I can't do it.  I can't even stand turkey bacon anymore. It just grosses me out.  I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to walnuts (hence leaving them out of the above recipe) and raw almonds and I may have a tenuous relationship. My husband can't have any soy or walnuts (thyroid issues), just to complicate matters.  I'm figuring out how my stomach and mouth react and deal with raw food and meats. Most of my life, I stayed away from meat because it gave me stomachaches.  I'm not sure I really have a problem with incorporating more beans into my diet either. I know that more veggies is basically the answer though. I'm figuring out the root causes of my dietary issues, and experimenting with different foods. Please...give me some time. If you don't, I've already warned you about smacking potential.  

On another note, I've decided to torture Newton by tying his stick toy (hot pink b/c that's how my man rolls) so it hangs, feather down, into the cat house that my dad made him.  Now, instead of just perching on the top most perch and sleeping like the prince he is, he's getting into the house, balancing on the back scratching post and go crazzzzzzzy playing with it. It's...hilarious fun to watch and I'm pretty sure he's enjoying himself. If you guys need more pictures of Newton...just ask. Since everyone knows that I anthropomorphize my cats since I don't have kids, I have pictures a plenty. It's not my fault he so freaking fluffy you want to squish him to death, and that Henry has the most amazing anime eyes ever.  

Anywho, off to attempt to sleep next to a freight train that call himself my husband.  If he knew how often I kicked him in his sleep, he'd probably stop talking to me for awhile.  And since he's going to read this, I might add in looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove you baby :)

Why is there a man with a gun in my living room??

Anyone that follows me on facebook knows that my GPS was stolen out of my car back at the end of January.  My car was opened, riffled through, all parts of the GPS taken and then the door was closed again. This was all done without setting off my car alarm.  I posted what happened on our neighborhood board, and found out that there were quite a few cars that had been broken into--also without setting the alarms off, taking any electronics that could be found.  

So like most people would, I bought a new GPS.  This time I was much more careful about taking it down every night and dropping it in my purse.  Apparently not careful enough two nights ago when, hands full, I left my GPS in my car (in the center console).  I was so distracted that I didn't even realize that I had forgotten it.  Yesterday I came out to my car to go to the gym and realized that I didn't see my GPS cord.   With a plunging heart I quickly realized that I had been robbed...AGAIN.  35 days after the first theft, the bastards had managed to get into my car again (cause the first time wasn't difficult enough apparently) and took my GPS again.  

If you feel stupid reporting that something got stolen out of you car because you left it in plain site, let me tell you that feeling increases ten fold when you have to call the police AGAIN because your car has been broken into twice in one month.  At first, I have to admit I was almost amused that it happened again.  That quickly turned to fury that I projected at anything I could find.  

Now readers, I don't live in the ghetto, or the projects. I live in an upper middle class townhouse community with million dollar homes down the road. We are getting targeted.  Since I posted on our neighborhood board that people need to file police reports when these thefts happen, the police now are required to come out and take a statement in person.  I mean, it's great and all to meet my neighborhood county cop, but it my GPS is still gone and I'm pretty sure they aren't perusing pawn shops for it. My neighbors have a camera pointing at their cars, and another over their door. I hoped that perhaps they recorded that night, but no luck.  The police talked to them this morning and found out that their camera's don't record.  

Now comes in the guy with a gun....

I was sort of sneakily getting a shot of him while my husband talked to him. All of the stuff on the floor was donations I was taking after our swap. 

When this nice officer came calling we learned how incredibly short staffed they were, to the point that there was one officer for half our county.  That must be close to half a million people (if not more!) and one officer is in charge. No wonder they can't patrol!  

So morals learned

1. Screw GPS's, I'm using my phone.  Ironically I hated the new GPS I'd gotten anyways.  

2. Depending on the police might not be the best idea. as they are understaffed, over stretched and under funded.

3. Get a house with a garage...no seriously, I'm willing to give up a basement to keep my car safe.

4. Living in a nice area means that your car is MORE likely to be broken into. 

5. Learned to be grateful that they didn't break a window.  

6. VOTE! This is a RICH county with a LOT of people that make a LOT of money. It's unacceptable that our police are so radically underfunded, and that the police are expected to have to sacrifice an officer to be solely responsible for the mall near my house.  

7. I did mention that we are looking to move, right?  I think that this event might have thrown me over the line from 'eh' to 'I'll pack tomorrow!' I love our house, but the petty crime in this neighborhood is getting scary. 

8. This is really sad, but one of my first thoughts was "damn, this is going to make a great blog post!" I'm sort of pitiful like that. 

Oh ... what a week! Sorry I didn't mange to make this post funny.  I'm just sort of emotionally drained after this week.