Friday, July 24, 2009

Long time no see

This summer has been rough! Husband home, kids home, work busy, etc.
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I've got a little bit of a break right now--hubby and son are at Boy Scout Camp. Son left with his troupe on Monday, and hubby left yesterday morning. Just me and daughter.
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I've felt kind of bad for daughter this week--I've been really busy with work and she keeps coming over to me and asking when I'll be done. I have to tell her I'm not sure. I guess I never realized how much she and her brother entertain each other. I kind of made it up to her yesterday--I took her out to dinner.
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I'm also having some lifestyle issues right now. It's easy to live a vegan lifestyle, but eating that way--not so easy. I have been just craving dairy--ice cream and cheese, mostly. I know what it is; it's stress. I am fighting getting back into that lifestyle that had me so fat. I used to eat when I was stressed, eat when I was happy, eat when I was with friends, eat when I was alone, etc. I've made successful alternatives for most of my eating triggers, but stress it so hard for me.
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And the thing is that even when I am eating something I'd rather not eat, I'm almost nauseous thinking about it but I keep on eating. When I have time, I've been trying to do some reading--stuff that got me motivated toward this lifestyle in the first place. The problem is that I haven't had much time lately.
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Lack of time and a feeling like I've had people looking over my shoulder is why I haven't been blogging lately. Today, with just daughter and I home and her watching a show, I feel like I have a moment.
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Oh, my garden! We had a ton of really good broccoli. Our cauliflower was buggy and gross so it got chucked. Our cabbages have been huge and wonderful. I need to go get the first of our zukes today (none at all and now I have 6 I can harvest). The tomatoes are just starting to ripen--we've had just a few and when they go, I'm going to have a million all at once. I have one yellow squish (yes, we call them squish at my house) I can harvest. My cukes are still a ways off.
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We've been eating in waves--all broccoli, all cabbage, and next is going to be all zucchini. When the tomatoes go, I want to dehydrate a bunch. We also had a bunch of cherries--We ate a ton, I made a cherry cobbler, and I put up like 6 quarts of them. I could have done like that many again, but they got wormy--gross.
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Well, that's my life right now. I need to get back to work.
Ciao for now.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Whew, I have been busy

I can't truly say why--work, family, etc. but nothing horribly out of the ordinary.
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So here's "It's a Small World". They changed it since the last time we were there--they added dolls dressed in Disney movie character outfits. It was kind of fun trying to find them all. Here are two kids and some pirate's treasure. When I was a kid, the island at Disneyland was called "Tom Sawyer's Island"; now it's the "Pirate's Lair". They change things to keep current. Their shirts, by the way, came from Excalibur in LV. Several Disney employees noticed them and commented that they were "Phantasmic" shirts. Nope, sorry.
And here, as I promised, is a picture showing the crowds. There were lines up because a parade was supposed to be starting in about 45 minutes, but the crowds were like that all day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Thursday morning was better and Friday we were at California Adventure and it wasn't nearly as bad.
So I'll give my vacation a rest now. How about on to some food?
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Sunday, son wanted pancakes for breakfast. I took my regular recipe and tweaked it a bit and they came out light, fluffy, and wonderful. I think they were the best I've ever made! I took the recipe and wrote out my tweaks so (hopefully) I can replicate the results. The were 100% whole wheat and had banana instead of egg and no dairy. I was impressed--usually when I make pancakes they are really hit or miss. One time they will be good and fluffy, the next time they will fall flat and have a crepe texture, or something like that.
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Saturday we went to the farmer's market and got Bok Choy--it was the first time I had ever had it. I stir fried it with onions, peppers, and garlic and a touch of teriyaki sauce. It was really good. Hubby said the leaves were tough but he liked the rest. We also got a big head of red romaine lettuce. I had several huge salads out of it.
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I need to harvest the garden again. I wish our tomatoes, squash, bell peppers, and cukes would get ripe--we are still at broccoli, onions, and kale.
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Well, I think I'll get back to work.
Ciao for now.