Body of work

I do a pretty lousy job of taking care of my body. Here is the grim and embarrassing truth:

• I shower about once a week
• I brush my teeth about every other day
• I never floss
  
• I wash my face a couple of times a week, if I'm lucky
• Same with moisturizer and make up
• I don't brush my hair everyday
• I rarely style it

I do keep my nails nice, that's about the only part of my body I pay attention to, because of course, that's the part I see. As for the inside of my body, it's pretty much the same story.

• I'm really, really overweight (don't let the picture on my blog fool you, I was looking up to hide my double chin.)
• I very rarely exercise
• I eat way to much junk
• I eat far too few fruits and veggies
• I often forget to take my anti-depressant
• Even more often I forget to take vitamins
• I sometimes go days without drinking any water
  

So far my body, God love it, has been pretty tolerable of this neglect. I've been blessed with good genes, but I'm 41, nature can't save me from nurture forever. Now don't get me wrong, like a smoker who's trying to kick the habit, I do make an effort to make changes. And, although you wouldn't know it from that list, changes are slowly happening.

Despite my policy of not going to the doctor unless I'm bleeding out my eyes, just recently I went for long overdue visits to both the dentist, and the dermatologist. The dentist paid off his car, thanks to me. The dermatologist found some cancerous spots on my face, so I'm sure I'll be sending him on a nice vacation by the time he's through.

Starting this February I stopped eating fast food, and stopped bringing junk food into the house. We rarely eat red meat, and I switched to fat free dairy, when it's an option. I bought a treadmill, and a bike, which I do use occasionally. And just like that smoker, I do keep trying, practicing quitting, if you will, these bad habits. I keep forming new plans, to see what will work, and I don't beat myself up for failing, the way I used to.

My current plan, starts this morning. I'm going to take car of as many things as possible on that list, first thing in the morning. I'm going to get on the treadmill, and walk in front of my light box. I hate doing both, so I'm going to try to get them over with one shot. I'm going to take my meds, and vitamin with a ginormous glass of water, and then I'm going to take care of my hair and face and teeth. All told, it won't take me more than an hour, the time many women spend on themselves in the morning. Why shouldn't I spend one hour of the day improving my mental and physical health? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Acronyms for the orderly-challenged

Hi! Sheryl, from Paper Napkin here. I'm so glad Belinda and I are collaborating on this blog. I have a lot of areas of my life where I need to get it together, and I think you, and she, and I can all help each other, hooray for blogs!

85-90% of the time my house is clean. The rest of the time my house is either very clean, or a sty. Now clean to me, may not be clean to you. Clean to me means when I bring in groceries, I have a place to put the bags down. It means I can walk around my house without stepping on stuff. It means neighbors can drop by, and I'm not embarrassed. Unless it's my pin-neat neighbor (curse her). It does not mean a place for everything and everything in its place. I wish I were that kind of person, but I ain't never gonna be that kind of person. Plus I have 3 little kids, so I've let go of that dream. Case in point, was going to take pictures of my house to show you what clean means to me, but I can't find the battery charger for the camera.

I've always been a messy person. When I was in college, there were wall to wall clothes in my apartment, and days-old dishes in the sink, and it was the same when I lived at home. But I've always hated being messy. Messes depress me, so over the years I found a way to control it. Then I had kids, and that threw me for a loop for a while, but I've got it under control again.

There are a lot of little tricks I use to keep the house clean. The verymost important one is DLFB. When I first started cracking the whip on my inner slob, I asked myself, what are the essentials? What areas of housekeeping absolutely must be done for me to feel sane and peaceful? DLFB: dishes, laundry, floors, bathrooms. Since I'm a dork, I made a sentence to help me remember: Domestic labor feels beautiful. (I told you I was a dork.)

If I do a little bit in each of these areas daily (or almost daily), keeping the rest of the house clean seems to follow. Notice I said a little bit. I do one load of dishes a day, I run the dishwasher at night, and my kids empty it in the morning, so I can stick a few dishes in it here and there during the day. Occasionally I have to do 2 loads, but most of the time I can pack the dishwasher full enough that I only have to do one load.

I also do one large load of laundry a day. We're a family of 5, so that doesn't keep the hampers empty, but it does keep them from overflowing. I hate laundry with the fire of a thousand suns, so I try to encourage us not to cycle through too many clothes. I make the kids change after school, which keeps school clothes nice, and who cares if their play clothes are dirty? (Well, actually I care, but I care more about not having tons of laundry, so if it's a choice between my pride and more work, laziness always wins.)

As for the bathrooms, I just do one thing a day. I clean the toilets, or sometimes just one toilet. Or I swipe the counters. It takes me 30 seconds, and I'm done for the day. I keep the Windex and paper towels on the counter and The Works (which I swear by) by the toilet in each bathroom, so they're right there. Inconvenience is the enemy of clean, if you're a lazy slob. I approach floors the same way. I vacuum one room, or sweep, or mop, but never all in one day. If it seems doable I'll do it, otherwise, forget it.

Figuring out the non-negotiables of housecleaning put things in clear perspective. DLFB saved my butt, and my house. It makes house cleaning manageable, because it's just 4 things! I can do that! It gives me peace of mind, and when those things are done, it makes keeping the rest of the house clean fairly easy. I tell you the other tricks I use too. Hope they help!

Leftover-Fest Jambalaya

I got several things accomplished at once today, and I'm kinda proud. Tired, but proud. First of all, the kitchen is clean. The kitchen. Is. Clean. You have no idea how big that is. I made a good, hot dinner, and did it using leftovers and Stuff I Already Had On Hand. That is also huge. AND, everyone ate it. Admittedly, Bella only ate a molecule or two, but she is the preschooler human equivalent of an air fern.

OK, so here's what I had:

Ham left over from what Alex brought home last night
A partial package of frozen tail-on shrimp
Chicken broth that I cooked boil-in-bag rice in last week, and then froze
Three leftover pieces of frozen garlic bread
One packet of instant brown rice
Half a bag of frozen chopped onions
A can of diced tomatoes with peppers, onion and celery
File' powder
Garlic powder
Thyme
Olive Oil
Butter
Louisiana hot sauce
Coarse Kosher salt

And here's what I made with it:

And here's how--again, you can change this up about a million ways, however you like. I started with a pat of butter and a splash of olive oil in a Dutch oven.

Sauteed the onion and garlic (or garlic powder) until browned.

Added about a cup of uncooked, instant brown rice, and a couple cups of chopped ham, stirred to coat in oil.

Added the can of diced tomatoes (the variety with celery and peppers added).

Added the 2-3 cups of chicken broth, that I'd partially thawed in the microwave.

Reduced heat, covered, and simmered for a while, cooking down the liquid, while also adding gumbo file' powder to thicken.

When optimal thickness was reached, added the frozen shrimp and cooked just 'til done, a couple of minutes.

Removed shrimp, pulled tails off because my family would whine about having to do it themselves, put tailless shrimp back into jambalaya, made final adjustments to seasoning and thickness, then served with garlic bread, hey presto.

This is kind of a big deal for me, because I'm bad about accumulating ingredients in my pantry and freezer, and not using them. To stop doing that is one of the goals I'm trying to reach with all this (there are MANY), because to not do so is wasteful of food and money, and we certainly don't have money to spare around here. I work too hard organizing coupon sprees to waste the spoils of my victory.

Like Sands Through The Hourglass...

So are the days of our lives. Wednesday dinner? No clue. I'm thinking Alex brought something home, but I was largely unconscious. This was my dinner, because I had one of my (thankfully increasingly rare) migraines:

And since my bad headaches usually involve 36 hours or so of debilitating headache and being largely unconscious from the medication, and then another good half-day of narcotic hangover, Alex also provided dinner Thursday night, in the form of stopping by the Heavenly Ham store in Little Rock, where he had an appointment that day.

It was great, but now we have ham for days. So, Brilliant Internets! What are your genius ideas for an interesting ham-based dinner for tonight? I'm making omelettes or a quiche tomorrow morning, so don't suggest that (although, if you have a really good quiche recipe, I'd LOVE to have it).

I'm making headway on the current project, and WILL have that done by the weekend, hopefully before the Razorback game on Saturday, which I may be attending, though it's not a done deal. Speaking of the current project, did you guys read my mom's comment here? She's pretty much a super-genius, and a lot to live up to. And she has two daughters who live with Laundry Monsters, much to her chagrin. How did someone like THAT raise someone like ME? As far as housekeeping goes, anyway, it's a mystery.

So, let's have it: Ham for dinner! What say you?

Homemade Stuffed Pasta Shells

Since I cheated with the frozen shells last week, I figured I'd make some from scratch this week. It's not hard, just a tiny bit "fussy." Don't be deterred, though. You don't have to stick to this recipe closely at all, just fix it to fit your taste. I did. First, brown some ground meat (or leave this out altogether and sub in some ricotta or other cheeses to keep it vegetarian). I used half lean ground beef, half ground turkey breast. I didn't tell my husband about the turkey.

Meanwhile, in a food processor or, if you haven't unpacked your food processor yet (because, you know, you've only lived here for two years), your trusty 40-year-old Osterizer blender, puree a package of fresh baby spinach, a couple shots of extra-virgin olive oil, garlic to taste (I keep the jarred, diced stuff on hand for convenience) and some "holy trinity" (onions, peppers, celery). I always buy the pre-chopped packaged frozen trio and keep several bags in the freezer. SO much better than chopping onions after work. If it's too thick, you can add just a bit of water.

Boil large pasta shells. You won't need a whole box, but I use a whole box, because a bunch of them are not going to hold their shape. Cook them just short of the "al dente" phase, because you want them tough enough to handle--plus, they'll be baking in sauce later anyway. They'll get tender.

While pasta is boiling, add your spinach puree to the meat mixture, and cook it for 10 minutes or so on medium heat. When it's done, this is where you season to taste. I used kosher salt, coarse-ground black pepper, and because the new hasn't worn off yet, some BaconSalt.

Once cooked and seasoned, transfer the meat/spinach filling mixture to a shallow dish to let it cool. You might want to stick it in the freezer for 5 minutes, even--it has to cool because you'll be adding an egg shortly, and you don't want scrambled egg in your filling.

Drain and rinse pasta, "shocking" it with cold water so it will be cool enough to handle and won't stick to itself.

Stir in a handful of fresh grated parmesan cheese and one egg to the cooled filling mixture.

Use a small spoon to stuff the shells with the filling.

Pour about a cup of pasta sauce into the bottom of a baking dish. Yes, it's sauce from a jar. I don't feel much like making fresh sauce when I get home from work, either. I used a tomato-basil variety; store-brand, even.

Lay stuffed shells over sauce in the baking dish.

Pour remaining sauce from jar over the stuffed shells. Cover, and bake at 350 degrees for about a half hour.

Garnish with grated parmesan, fresh basil, whatever you like, and serve. This is way more filling than it looks, so go easy on the portions, especially if you're serving a side dish.

The Perfect Baked Potato

OK, after this I have to shut up about the BaconSalt. But seriously--buy some.

Dinner Monday night was simple enough--steamed broccoli, and baked potatoes with Smart Balance Light, Light sour cream, a sprinkling of sharp cheddar...sounds kind of "blah," huh? Well, maybe--until you add the SECRET INGREDIENT.

With the addition of zero-calorie peppered BaconSalt to my baked potato, I think I could have eaten several of them. You gotta getcha some of this stuff. Because, as they say over at BaconSalt headquarters, "Everything should taste like bacon."

Week One In Review

So, dinner Saturday? This. Because we were lazy, we were tired, and they BROUGHT IT TO US. Buffalo Chicken Pizza from Larry's. Yup.

But also, on Saturday? Alex cleaned the living room to a fare-thee-well. I was stunned and grateful, because I sure didn't want to do it. There is the matter of some boxes on one side of the room, but I'll come to that in a bit. Let's continue to recap the week.

Monday, I gathered ingredients for, and Alex did the cooking of, a big pot of Corn Macque Choux. I did some laundry and some dishes.

Tuesday, a dog with a poked eyeball had to go to the vet. Alex foraged at the grocery store for a few items I didn't have, and I fried him some chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and homemade biscuits, a rare, and rather fatty, treat. More laundry, more dishes. Bought horse feed. Did major grocery shopping on the last day of the circular sale, to maximize my coupons.

Wednesday, I made a lighter than usual version of creamy herb-chive chicken, served on whole-wheat pasta with steamed mixed veggies.

By Thursday, the grind was getting to me, and I used a dry seasoning mix to make some General Tso chicken. Spicy, but good. Served it on brown rice with some sauteed green beans. Also explained what the heck I was trying to accomplish with all this documentation. Or tried to.

On Friday, I was downright tired, and opted for a mostly prepared meal using frozen ricotta-stuffed pasta shells, jarred sauce and some fresh spinach. Internetally, I whined about what the heck is wrong with me.

Saturday morning, we got up early, and GOT OUT OF THE HOUSE. This is a big deal for us on a Saturday, which is when we usually lie around and turn into a sedentary gelatinous substance that may or may not smell kinda bad. My 10-year-old nephew came over, and we went out to breakfast (I LOVE going out for breakfast), took the kids to a playground for some exercise and photo-ops, and then for several games of bowling and arcade fun. Then we came home and Alex and Bella both passed out while I edited fortyleven pictures and posted them on flickr and then watched to see which ones might make Explore. When Alex woke up, he did the amazing living-room cleanup, most of it before I even knew what he was doing. He may not clean often (of course, neither do I), but when he does, he's thorough. We celebrated by eating delivered pizza in the nice neat room. Good times.

Sunday, it was back to rotting away, more or less. Not sure what happened there, except that the very little I got accomplished happened in the last hour before bedtime. Our sad, sad dinner came to this (and no, that ain't homemade):

Since Alex did such a nice job getting the living room to a livable state (I did it last time, but it sure didn't last long, and we're going to try to do better this time), I promised to actually FINISH a project that's been hanging over my head for, oh...nearly two years. Say hello to Project Next:
Yeah. That's my front door, folks. Or at least the door that serves as the front door, because our house faces backward on our lot. In any case, this is one side of the LIVING ROOM. And these moving boxes and miscellaneous detritus have been there since we moved into this house. In January of 2006. Are you picking up what I'm putting down? Now, this is only about half the previous pile, because I put a pretty serious dent in it a couple of months ago, before having a sinking spell that lasted several weeks. But now that I've posted THIS live on the Internets, I can't very well just let it sit there, can I? At least, that's the idea.

I hope you're not ashamed to know me.