Friday Night Photos #113

I have a wide variety of photos today...

While Noah's car was being tuned earlier this week, we were short one car for a couple of days. Noah had Jerry's car at school, Eli drove his car to his baseball game (he has to get there early) and then Jerry and I took my car to Eli's game. Jerry had to leave early to go to work, so I figured I'd just catch a ride home with Eli in the Patriot.

Well, I had no idea what I was thinking when I told Jerry to just leave the lawn chairs and wagon with me and I'd bring them home. Eli's girlfriend was riding home with us, Eli's fishing gear was in the back seat, and all of his baseball stuff (catchers' gear takes up a LOT of space) was in the hatch. I had to sit in the backseat (his girlfriend offered, but I didn't mind) with three lawn chairs and a book bag on my lap. It was a tight squeeze!

Also, look how red my nose is. I was wearing a thermal shirt, a warm cowl neck shirt over it, my heavy winter coat, thermal pants with jeans over them, two pairs of socks, a winter hat, and mittens--also a heavy blanket wrapped around me--but it was still cold enough to feel like what I imagine Antarctica to feel like, haha. (It wasn't just me, like it usually is--everybody there was shivering! There was even freezing rain for a little bit.)

Jerry send this to me and it made me laugh at how true it is. I have a million pictures of my cats sitting in the most awkward positions on my hips, knees, head, etc.

I was going to post just one photo to go along with it, but here is a whole collage, haha.

This time of year is when we start to see a few squirrels with mange. I have a tube of Ivermectin and I put a little on a walnut to feed to the squirrels that I can see have mange. This squirrel... I feel so sorry for her! She is missing an ear and half of her tail, and she is in the early stages of mange. I gave her a dose of the Ivermectin; I have to give her two more doses (only one dose per week). One of the squirrels with mange is super picky and won't eat the nuts with Ivermectin. My dad suggested putting a little peanut butter over it, so I'm going to try that.

Jerry saw me doing my Duolingo lesson a couple of days ago and he said, "I want to learn a language! I'm going to download the app." I told him that Spanish is the easiest one, so he should start with that. He said that he wants to learn Russian--hahaha! I tried Russian a few years ago and lasted all of three minutes before I deleted it. Jerry has never tried to learn a language before--it wasn't required in his school--so I was curious how it would go.

And then I was *shocked* when he was going through the lessons and actually learning the alphabet and sounding things out. He was actually kind of giddy about it! After the first lesson, he was already telling me what letters make what sounds and saying some basic vocabulary words. I think it would be hilarious (and awesome) if we discover he's got a knack for languages and never knew it!

I'm kind of amazed whenever I make seitan that I can make something from scratch that so closely resembles shredded chicken. It took a LOT of trial and error, but we finally perfected it (Jerry is good at making it, too). Lately, I've been loving it with a little barbecue sauce.

A few nights ago, both of the boys were home in the evening (along with Jerry and me) so we decided to do something a little nostalgic--eat ice cream and watch an episode of Naked and Afraid. (Ben & Jerry's makes an amazing non-dairy ice cream called P.B. & Cookies!)  While we were watching the show, Chick was super fascinated with all of the wildlife (i.e. bees and fish). 

My weekly Friday morning picture of Duck curled up next to my head in the morning. I felt HORRIBLE today because right after I took this picture, I accidentally dropped my phone on us. I think it mainly got my forehead rather than landing on him, though.

I was looking through photos one day and I had an idea to do for Mother's Day. I really don't like Mother's Day because I don't ever want my kids to feel stressed about doing something or buying something for me. So, I decided that I'd like to give *them* a gift on Mother's Day. I went though photos, picking out all the photos of each of the kids and me, and uploaded them to Snapfish for printing. (I chose photos of them individually--just Noah and me for his album and just Eli and me for his.)

I bought an album for each of them and I'm going to put the photos in the album, as well as write funny or cute stories about them on 4x6 cards to slide into the pages. I don't have the time or the materials to make an actual scrapbook, but the photo album shouldn't be too hard. I hope that they'll enjoy looking through it and remembering all the fun stuff we've done together over the years.

I blame Duolingo for this email that I got! I always unsubscribe from junk email and when I clicked to unsubscribe, this is what came up, haha. From the words I could make out, I guessed I probably wanted to click "Sí" (yes) but then I wondered if I would be saying, "Yes, I'd like more emails, please." I haven't gotten any more, so I'm assuming I made the right choice ;)

Today was a rainy day AND there was no baseball (this is the first Friday without baseball in weeks), so I decided to take apart some old jeans and prep them for altering other jeans. I really love the pair that I altered recently to make them mid-rise instead of low-rise--they are super comfy and they are now my favorite pair of jeans!--so I want to add a second waistband to a couple of other low-rise pairs in my closet. I measured out the band of a pair that sat comfortably over my hip bones, like I wanted, and then I took in the waistband on a few old pairs that I'd cut up (like these American Eagle ones below). That way, I could add them to the low-rise jeans, making them sit higher.

I wanted to take out the part in the back between the safety pins, so I had to disassemble the band a bit before putting it all back together (bottom pic). I still have to add the top stitching (the orange thread) but I was really happy with how the waistbands turned out. Now I just have to add them to the top of a pair of low-rise jeans

I also cut off all the pockets and zippers from old jeans for other uses. I always save the fabric from the legs as well, for adding denim to straight leg jeans (to make them flare), or for patching holes, or for reinforcing seams on old favorite jeans. I've been really into sewing lately when I have time to play around with it!

Okay, I'm going to eat some dinner. I'm starving! Have a great weekend. xo

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Three Things Thursday: What I Would Do Differently

I don't really like to think about what I *should* have done in certain situations because it just makes me feel regretful--and that's not a happy feeling. But there are some more light-hearted things that I would change if I could go back in time. Not regrets, but just making different choices...

1) I would have eloped rather than have a wedding reception.

I never really had dreams of a big fancy wedding, but it was kind of a given that what we were "supposed" to do (back in 2003, anyway) is have a wedding with lots of guests and a reception (dinner/drinks/dancing). I definitely did not do "fancy", but it was relatively large). It was great that people came and celebrated with us and the whole event turned out really nice, but I spent the whole evening making the rounds mingling and thanking people for coming, trying to ensure everybody felt welcome and had a fun time--I didn't even eat my wedding dinner, cake, or have a single drink! 

Planning a wedding takes so much time (and money!) and it's over with in a flash. If I'd had dreams of a big wedding it would have been worth it, but I honestly didn't really care about that.

If I were to do it all over, I would skip the whole big ceremony and reception and just plan a trip somewhere. We could have a quick ceremony at a simple location and then enjoy our vacation. Jerry and I didn't go on a honeymoon because of the expense, so rather than spend all of the money on a reception, it would have been fun to go on a nice trip.

I don't feel regretful, but I would definitely do it differently if I knew then what I know now.

2) I would have stick-built our home.

Jerry and I had plans of a "starter home", so we bought a lot in this neighborhood, hired a contractor to build a foundation, and ordered a manufactured home (a.k.a. trailer) put on the lot. Manufactured homes have a stigma but we really liked it. And we LOVE living across from the marsh. So, we ultimately decided to stay here.

At the time, we had no idea what we were doing--we knew nothing about owning a home--so over time, we discovered little things that were more difficult to replace because they weren't standard--things like the thickness of some walls (a standard door jamb is a little too wide). Nothing terrible, and we've certainly been able to personalize everything to our taste, but it would have been easier to build a house here and make everything standard sizes with upgraded materials. (I have no desire to have a bigger home--ours is the perfect size for our family--but I would change the layout a bit. However, I didn't know what kind of layout I wanted because I had never lived on my own!)

When I did the big renovation a few years ago, I upgraded a LOT of stuff (simple things like the molding and light fixtures and door slabs). The cost of everything (the lot we bought + our home + our renovation) wasn't any cheaper than building a house. We really like where we live and the updated home, so it worked out in the end. However, if I'd have known we were going to stay here, I would have planned things out much more carefully and customized it.

3) I would have traveled a bit before settling down.

My first time in the PNW--and my first hike!

This sounds silly, but it never occurred to me that I could move anywhere I desired when I was ready to live on my own! I don't regret getting married so young (21 years old), or having kids so young (I was 22 when I had Noah and 23 when I had Eli). However, it was just sort of a given that Jerry and I would live close to where our parents live. We never even talked about moving somewhere else.

If we were able to go back in time, I would have liked to see some other places in the country and then choose where we'd like to settle down. I *love* the Pacific Northwest and probably would have chosen to live there. On the other hand, our families live in Michigan and it's nice to be able to see them anytime we want. My kids were able to grow up less than a mile from my parents, so they rode their bikes over there frequently. I also developed a closer relationship with my parents because of it.

I've made sure to tell my kids that they don't have to settle down here just because they grew up here, though. I'd love for them to explore a bit and find a location that they enjoy. It would be great to live near them! But I wouldn't be sad if one of them settled in the Pacific Northwest, either--I would just have to go visit often ;)

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So, those are three things I would do differently if I had known then what I know now. Like I said, I don't feel regretful about them; I didn't know any better at the time! I started an "adult life" (a home and marriage and kids) relatively young, so I've learned quite a bit since then. And I can help my kids discover that they have lots of options in "adult life" and they don't have to make quick decisions!

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Wednesday Weight-In: Week 100

I didn't realize that today was Week 100 until just now. I feel like I should have come up with an interesting post for it--although, there really isn't anything special about 100 weeks of working on getting back to a comfortable size and weight.

It's hard to believe it's been almost two years since I was dangerously on my weigh back to 253 pounds. I decided enough was enough and started calorie counting my way back down to a healthy weight. I felt that powerful sense of determination that isn't easy to come by. I was so sure that I wasn't going to be able to do it--but I did! It wasn't without challenges, for sure, but I'm hoping to learn from each setback that I have so that I can avoid it in the future.

Moving on... I am so thrilled about the jeans I'm wearing in this picture. Yesterday, Noah needed a ride to Toledo to pick up his car (he'd gotten a tune-up). Right around the corner from the shop was a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store--I hadn't been to a St. Vincent for probably 15 years. I just had to stop and check it out.

It was kind of a sad little store, but I browsed a bit anyway. Most of their clothes were for sizes 10/12+, which is too big; however, I happened upon this pair of True Religion jeans. I was so glad to see that St. Vincent doesn't mark their clothing at different prices based on what brand they are (Salvation Army and Goodwill now do that). Jeans were $3 a pair.

They didn't have fitting rooms, but I was pretty sure they'd fit me. I have a couple of pairs of True Religion size 29 jeans (I think that equates to a 7/8?) that I'd taken in at the waist and hips; these ones were size 27, so I hoped they'd fit without having to alter them. They are boot cut, too--I look terrible in straight-leg jeans.

I picked out two more pairs of jeans (ones that I think will be fun to alter) and a long-sleeve waffle top. The shirts were priced higher, so even though there were a few that I liked, I decided not to get them. When I went to the counter to pay, I saw a sign that said you could fill a paper grocery bag with clothes and pay only $10! I wish I'd seen that before I started browsing. I didn't want to go back and look again, but still I ended up saving a few dollars. I got three pairs of jeans and a top for $10. The True Religion jeans alone at Salvation Army would probably be $25.

When I got home and tried them on, I was excited to see that they fit! I do have to hem them--I don't think I've ever had a pair of jeans that didn't need the hemline altered. I'm 5'4", which is literally the average height of an American woman--but regular jeans are always too long, and petite jeans are a bit too short.

Anyway, I did not plan on writing that whole story about a simple pair of jeans! I was happy to see that my weight went down a bit more this week than it has over the last couple of weeks...

I was at 138.0 this morning, which is down from 139.8 last week. I'm happy with that! And I'm just three pounds away from the top of my goal range.

I didn't really do anything different this week; I've still been eating regularly (three meals rather than sporadically throughout the day). The biggest difference is oddly kind of exciting--I haven't been eating ice! This is HUGE.

I *finally* found an iron supplement that doesn't make me feel nauseous and I think it's actually working. I've been taking it religiously for about two and a half weeks and about five days ago, my ice cravings started going away. And for the last three days, I haven't craved it at all. I tried eating it last night, just out of habit, but it wasn't appealing like it has been for the last 10 years and I didn't even eat half a tumbler of it.

A few months ago, I was curious about how much water I consumed in ice alone and I measured out the water I put into my ice maker. Are you ready for this? I was eating the equivalent of just over a gallon of water every day! (I want to be clear that my iron was low LONG before I became vegan.)

I'm truly stunned.

I don't want to sing the praises of this iron supplement (iron from ferrous fumarate) just yet, because like I said, it's only been two and a half weeks. But if you're curious, it's called FERAPRO (and it's vegan!). I bought it after reading about it on an iron-deficiency Facebook group (a woman wrote that it was the only supplement she's found that raised her ferritin level). I had to order it from Canada and the shipping was kind of expensive--and I wasn't even sure it would work--but I was getting desperate after trying several others.

I'm going to finish this bottle (there are 100 capsules) and then ask my doctor for another ferritin test. My ferritin level was 9 last time, and the goal is at least 100. Crossing my fingers that this will be it for me! I'll update as I continue to take it. 

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Deep Thoughts With Jerry #13

Jerry wanted to change his posts to "Tuesdays With Jerry", but I think with the picture of him above, "Deep Thoughts" just works so well! I was pretty impressed that he wrote this last night at work...

If you could bring back one fashion trend what would it be?

There are so many. I want the 90's back. Mainly, I want my band t-shirts to come back. When I was a teen I spent almost every dime I made on music. My bedroom walls didn't have a bare spot on them--band posters everywhere. When there was a bare spot it was quickly covered with cut outs from music magazines like Circus, AP, Revolver, or Spin. My life was music. It was my happy place. To this day, I still turn to music to calm me when I'm stressed. It's a lot of 90's punk, ska, and nu-metal.

Anyways, I had a pretty extensive collection of shirts going for me. Every time a new Korn or Rage Against The Machine shirt came out I bought it (they were my favorite bands at the time). Some shirts I got at concerts, some I got from a store in our local mall that had a lot of random shirts you couldn't just get at any record store, and some were from overseas and were a rare find.

One of my favorite shirts was a Korn shirt that was printed as a result of a Michigan high schooler getting suspended from school for wearing a Korn shirt. School officials said that wearing a Korn shirt "is no different than a person wearing a middle finger on their shirt". Ridiculous. So, the band had shirts printed with their simple Korn logo on the front and a quote from the 1st Amendment on the back. Under the quote read: (Except in Michigan). HAHAHAHA!

Coffee or Tea?

Easy. Coffee. I have never been and never will be a tea fan. To me it's just gross. I've always been a coffee guy--straight black. MY favorite brand is Chock Full O' Nuts. It's relatively cheap and just straight up delicious. If you've never tried it I highly recommend just buying a can the next time you're out and giving it a shot. 

A gift from Katie. I don't think she even knows what the Death Star is.

If you had to play one music album forever what would it be?

There are so many great albums out there. Nothing compares to music in the 90's though. And nothing compares to Smashing Pumpkins' "Siamese Dream". My favorite song on the album is called 'Mayonaise'. This is the album I go to when I'm feeling down on my luck and need a pick me up.  So, if I had to pick an album, this would be it. 

What would you like to do when you retire?

If I'm able to retire in 20 years I would just like to take some time to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nowhere to go, nowhere to be. Just for a bit though. I would enjoy walks or bike rides if the weather was nice enough. Maybe learn how to finally plant a garden and maintain it. When it's the summer I will hopefully be able to watch grandkids run around the yard or I'll be attending their ball games.

It just seems like there is so much I want to do and when I am finally able to retire I'm going to have such little time to do it, which is a little sad to think about. But, we will have the house and cars paid off in a couple of years, so we can start doing some extra things before we get too old.

What book did you read that changed your life the most?

Some people would say that 'To Kill A Mockingbird', 'The Catcher In the Rye', or George Orwell's '1984' are the kinds of books that completely changed their perspective on life. Me? It was Darth Bane: 'Path of Destruction'.

Yes, it's a Star Wars book. First one I ever read. This book stoked the fire of my super-fandom. My obsession. Before reading this book I wasn't much of a fan. I was like most kids growing up that just saw the movies on TV when the marathons would play during the holidays. I didn't collect the toys, didn't use an old broomstick as a makeshift lightsaber, didn't even talk into a running box fan to distort my voice to sound like Darth Vader.

I read this book in 2007, the first of a trilogy of books, and I was instantly hooked. From there I invested time and money into reading well over 100 books of the Star Wars expanded universe and loved every page. 

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

My breakfast trends go in waves. A couple weeks ago I swore that avocado toast was the greatest breakfast food ever. And now, I'm not even eating breakfast any more. Before that, cereal. Eggs on toast, fried eggs and toast, scrambled eggs and toast, omelet and toast... a lot of eggs with toast really. But, I will always find my way back to pancakes. Always. It's the best. Katie showed me a vegan recipe and they are so filling, but delicious and totally worth the super full feeling afterwards.  

What is your go-to show at night?

So many. I'm a huge professional wrestling fan and currently wrestling is on five nights a week between three different promotions. I have them recording and I can just start them up whenever. If I'm cleaning around the house I tend to put on Friends--we own all 10 seasons on Prime. If it's baseball season, I just put on any game and watch forever. It's essentially whatever I'm in the mood for, but mainly wrestling. 

How do you top your burgers?

I used to be a straight cheese, mustard, and ketchup guy. When I became an adult, I started branching out and putting the normal fixings on like onions and pickles. I never, ever, could get on board with tomatoes. They ruin everything. I just hate raw, fresh tomatoes. Eventually I landed on mayo, A-1, caramelized onions, and cheese. I recently had a patty melt at a vegan brewery and it was the best burger I've ever had, hands down. In a couple days I would love to try making my own burgers and see how it works out.

A Big "Moc" from Chili Mustard Onions, a vegan restaurant in Detroit (sadly closed now)

What movie defined your generation?

Without a doubt it was American Pie. Lines were crossed in that movie like never before and it was just such a fair, accurate description of my generation without the crazy, over-the-top antics you see in a lot of comedies. I must've seen that movie 100 times, along with it's sequels, and it will never get old. I still laugh out loud at a lot of the stuff and the soundtrack was the best.

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Vegan Recipe Review: Coconut "Shrimp"

I haven't done a recipe review in a while, mainly because I haven't had time to try out new recipes. Yesterday, Jerry and I spent most of the day working on spring cleaning stuff. I was really hungry and we couldn't wait to sit down and eat! But I had no idea what to make. I grabbed this recipe from the printer (I printed it a while ago and forgot it was there until I was cleaning). I realized that I had all of the ingredients on hand and I figured I'd give it a try.

I wasn't sure if I'd be posting about it because honestly, I was very skeptical about how it would turn out. Vegan shrimp? But I always love to try new things.

I was never a big seafood fan (aside from my dad's fried perch), but I did like shrimp. And my favorite shrimp was the coconut shrimp at Red Lobster. I knew this probably wouldn't be quite the same without the piña colada-like sauce at Red Lobster, but if it tasted good, I'd be happy.

I got this recipe from Sam Turnbull's site, It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. I've mentioned before that her recipes are always a big hit or miss for me--I either really love it or definitely won't try it again. You can find the recipe on her site here. (I'll link to it again at the end of the post)

First, the ingredients:

flaxseed, unsweetened shredded coconut, panko bread crumbs, flour, white miso paste, paprika, garlic powder, lemon juice, vegetable broth, salt, pepper, and soy curls

The "shrimp" is actually just soy curls (I've been using soy curls for a while now and we really like them). First, I sorted through the soy curls to pick out any that somewhat-resembled the shape of shrimp. I needed to get two ounces (dry) of them, so I wasn't very picky about what shape they were! Two ounces is only 1/4 of a bag, and these went a LONG way--I was surprised at how much this made.

Then I mixed together the marinade ingredients: miso paste, paprika, garlic powder, vegetable broth (I used a cup of water + a teaspoon of vegetable bouillon), salt, and pepper. The recipe didn't specify to use hot water, but I know from experience that soaking soy curls works much better with hot water. I put the soy curls in with the marinade and set it aside while I assembled the breading bowls.

There are three bowls: one with flour and pepper; another with water and flaxseed; and the third with panko bread crumbs and coconut.

The recipe suggested using chopsticks for each bowl so that they don't get too messy going from station to station--I thought that was clever!

...in theory, haha. First, I'm not very efficient with chopsticks. I can bring food to mouth with them if I have to, but trying to move pieces around in a timely manner just wasn't working. Also, the chopsticks got pretty messy somehow as well, so I eventually just started using my fingers. Much messier, but faster and easier.

I'd only used hot water for the soy curls and not boiling water like I usually do (boiling water makes the soy curls soak it up much faster). I thought the hot water would work here, but I wasn't too sure about it when I felt them--they still seemed pretty firm. I even let them soak a little longer. They were firmer than I usually make them and I thought that may ruin the dish completely. However, I just went along with the rest of the instructions.

First, you coat the curls in the flour + pepper mixture. Then you dip them in the flaxseed mixture. Then you coat them with the panko + coconut mixture. (Note: I really thought the flaxseed "egg" would be an odd choice for this recipe--but that was not the case. The pieces of flaxseed stayed at the bottom of the bowl, so the soy curls didn't pick much of it up.)

After about 10 minutes, I had a large plate full of the breaded soy curls.

Next, you heat a large skillet with oil and place the soy curls in a single layer to cook. I cooked them until they were browned and then flipped them over and browned the other side.

When I was done, I had a pile of (yummy looking) coconut "shrimp".

I really wasn't expecting much from these--the marinade hadn't smelled that great, and for soy curls, marinade is everything. I was very surprised, then, when I tried one and it was SO GOOD.

It was a mild flavor, definitely tasting like the coconut breading I'd hoped. And the texture--shrimp is something I thought could probably never be replicated well--was PERFECT. The texture was definitely that of shrimp, and the flavor was mildly coconut-ty. The breading was super crispy and stuck to the soy curls very well.

I honestly think that if these were shaped like shrimp (better than the pieces I used), and you didn't know they weren't actually shrimp, they could probably be passed off as shrimp. And I am NOT one to say that very often about vegan food. When it comes to vegan food, I like to call a spade a spade. (Nutritional yeast does not taste like cheese and even though I like nutritional yeast for what it is, I will never try to convince someone that it tastes like cheese.)

Jerry and I loved the soy curls! Noah wasn't here and Eli didn't want to try them, so Jerry and I ate the entire plate ourselves. He said I should mention (and I agree) that these don't have to try to mock shrimp. They are good as they are--coconut soy curls. But soy curls have such an unfortunate name--it doesn't have the same ring to it and it's gross-sounding to people who haven't tried them before.

[Side note: Soy curls are made of just one ingredient--soy beans. They are actually compliant in the whole foods plant-based diet, because they are made with the whole soybean and minimally processed. They don't have much flavor, which is why they are super versatile--they absorb the flavors of the marinade.]

I started calling the coconut soy curls "scrimp"--because soy curls (sc) and it rhymes with shrimp. *shrug*  Regardless of what they care called or what they are made of, they are DELICIOUS. I ate them plain (the recipe suggests serving them with cocktail sauce, but I never have cocktail sauce or horseradish, so we just ate them plain. And we loved them.

I'm going to see if I can find a recipe for a sauce that resembles the one at Red Lobster. Jerry and I both agreed that these need to be a regular recipe around here. I'm not sure what Noah would think of them (he likes soy curls, but I don't know if he's ever tried a coconut breading on anything). The next time I make them, I'll make sure that Noah will be here.

I know soy curls sound like a weird food to people who have never heard of them (they certainly sounded weird to me!) but if you're up for an adventure with the odd ingredient, this recipe is definitely one try! (Soy curls are only made by one company: Butler Foods. I order them directly from their website. I'm not affiliated with them in any way.)

You can find the recipe for the Coconut "Shrimp" at It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken.

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I'm That Many Years Old

I saw a post from Bored Panda today that had 50 memes about the Generation X-era and feeling old. I could relate to ALL of it! Having been born in 1982, I was right on the border of Gen X and Millennial. Some call it "Generation Xennial"--when born between 1977 and 1983. I definitely relate more to the Gen X characteristics than I do the Millennials.

Anyway, reading through those memes had me nodding my head, laughing, and saying "YESSSS" out loud more times than I can count. I won't post all the memes here (you can find them on this post at Bored Panda) but I thought I would write a little about a few of them that spoke to me...

• The card catalogue at the library. Not that long ago, I was in the library looking for a book and I asked the librarian if they had it. She pointed toward the back of the library and said I could check the card catalogue. (The library isn't very big and it's all on one floor.) I walked around where she'd told me, but I couldn't, for the life of me, find the card catalogue. I was too embarrassed to ask, because duh--a card catalogue is huge and how could I miss it? I never did find it! And I later learned that the "card catalogue" is now a computer. Why does this intimidate me but I would feel totally comfortable using an actual card catalogue?

• My kids have reminded me on more than one occasion that I was born in the 1900s.

• I used to have probably 20 phone numbers memorized when I was a teenager. (Interestingly--or not--I still remember the phone numbers of several childhood friends... and I don't even know the numbers of my kids' phones!)

• My brain automatically adjusts years to relate to the year 2000--I don't know why. If something was 20 years ago, I think 1980. The 1960s were 40 years ago. The 1990s were only 10 years ago. I absolutely cannot wrap my brain around the fact that 1982 (my birth year) is as far removed from today as the year 1941.

• The year I was born is when eight-tracks were phased out and replaced by cassette tapes. I've seen it go from cassettes to CD's to MP3's. I can still remember using blank cassette tapes to record my favorite songs from the radio. And on not one, but TWO occasions, someone broke into my car and stole the entire collection of my CD's (which I kept in a book).

• One of the memes is an elderly woman who said that the "internet used to come through the phone and it sounded like screaming robots". I can still remember EXACTLY what the dial up modem sounded like. And how frustrating it was when someone picked up the phone and it disconnected the internet! I can't remember when the last time I had to use dial up was, but a quick google search leads me to believe it was right around the time I started college in 2000.

• When my kids' school is canceled for something like a snow day, we get an e-mail, a text message, and a phone call at 5:00 in the morning or so. When I was younger, we had to sit and watch the bottom of the TV screen on the morning news to see if our school was closed. Likewise, we had to watch the TV Guide channel scroll through like 100 channels in order to see what was on. Or we had to look at the printed out TV guide. When you realized you missed the channel you were waiting for, it was the WORST.

• Being a huge Friends fan, my jaw dropped when I read a tweet that said the actors on Friends are now younger than the youngest "Golden Girl" was when that series started. 

• I really love the subreddit r/WhatIsThis. I nearly died when I saw that someone posted a picture of a phone jack on the wall and asked what it was. I feel a million years old after seeing that!

• Watching shows on TV and learning that the character is 30-something years old. It's crazy to me that I'm older than them! When I look at them, I think of them as being at least 15 years older than I. It's the same with sports--Jerry has the Tigers game on right now and the players are SO YOUNG. In my mind, they are still a couple of decades older than I.

• I can remember my sister used to play "travel agent" to plan trips when she was a teenager. She would take out a paper map, a phone book (yes, a book with thousands of phone numbers--they used to exist!), a notepad (actual paper), and the phone (that was connected to the wall, obviously). She would lie on the floor, call Northwest Airlines (now called Delta) and ask about destinations, ticket costs, and schedules. This is HOW IT WAS DONE before the internet! I was too young to plan my own trips, so I only remember booking travel online. But I can't imagine the patience you would need to be a ticket agent for an airline.

• When I was a kid, we used to ride in the back of my dad's pickup truck all the time and nobody batted an eye. I'm pretty sure social services would come knocking if we did that now.

• Whenever I would go to the Henry Ford Museum for my kids' field trips (I don't know why every teacher chose to go there once a year--I could probably give tours myself now!), I thought it was so interesting that several things I remembered from my childhood were on display IN A MUSEUM. The computers we used, the phones we had, toys we played with--it was only 20 years ago, you know--1980 can't be museum worthy, right? ;) 

• When I try to sell my kids on a movie, they don't know who the most popular actors are--you know, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams, Nicolas Cage, Drew Barrymore, Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, Kevin Bacon, Leonardo DiCaprio... my kids look lost when I drop names! And I honestly have NO idea who the popular actors--or celebrities in general--are these days. To me, they are still the names I listed above.

And finally... there is a thread on Reddit: "My old person trait is..." and people list things that they wish were like "the olden days". A few of my "old person traits" are:

*Missing the days when you didn't need an app to order food. I tried to get Taco Bell for Noah and Eli one day recently and I couldn't figure out the goddamn app! I finally just gave up and left. I also really don't like that you have to use a kiosk to order food at places like Panera. It takes so much longer than just actually speaking an order to an employee. I don't eat out, so I'm sure I'm further behind than most people.

*I miss the written/typed instructions for things--something like a board game (now you have to visit their YouTube videos to learn how to play). I *really* dislike videos for instructions--I much prefer to read a manual or even a website. I tried to troubleshoot my sewing machine a few days ago and every google search led me to nothing but YouTube videos. (YouTube was very helpful when I was DIY'ing the house renovation, but I still much prefer written instructions.)

*I REALLY miss the internet pre-social media. For a million reasons. And I do realize it's ironic, considering I'm a blogger.

*NO VERTICAL VIDEO. Please. ;) 

*I refuse to use "the cloud" to save anything. I realize that my hard drive could fail at any moment and I could possibly lose 50,000 photos, but I just can't bring myself to save photos to... where? Outer space? (I do have a couple of back-up hard drives just in case one fails. I just hope I don't have to give up the hard drives someday when technology is too far gone for me.

---

I constantly find myself doing or saying things I *never* thought I would. Jerry and I always thought we would be the cool parents who kept up with modern times and never ask our kids for help using technology. But my kids have said that we are "five years ago cool"--hahahaha! And I've certainly asked for help with tech stuff.

But hey--what do I know? I was born in the 1900s. ;)

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(Almost) Wordless

It has been a long, exhausting, COLD day of baseball--from 8:00 until 5:45! We are all freezing cold right now, so I'm going to make some tortilla soup for dinner and get super cozy in my pajamas. So, instead of writing a post, I'll just post a few photos from this day (April 22) in the past...

2010- Donating blood as part of my 30 x 30 list (30 goals to accomplish by 30 years old). 

2012- My lifelong best friend Sarah (who now lives in Arizona) when she was pregnant with her first baby.

2017- When John and I visited Caitlin in Boston; we were FREEZING and I love this picture!

Naturally, I had to get a picture with this cookie truck ;)

2020- Our mama squirrel shortly before she had her babies. We have another pregnant one who comes around for her walnuts every day at the same time. I'm excited to see her babies!

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Friday Night Photos #112

Good grief, it's Friday already? I don't realize just how few pictures I've taken throughout the week until I start my post on Friday nights. I have a few more than last week, but I haven't really been doing things that are worth taking pictures of, other than baseball. And I don't want to post a ton of baseball pictures, because even those look the same after a while.

I still enjoy writing these posts, though--sometimes I'll take a picture of something completely random and forget all about it until Friday night when I look through my camera roll. Anyway, here are this week's photos...

When Noah and I went to the thrift stores earlier this week, we were browsing through the books and Noah pointed out this vegan junk food cookbook. He suggested that we start trying recipes from this book once a week or so, and I thought that was a fun idea. If we find any good ones, I may post about them here.

Just one baseball photo. The games on Saturday actually had quite a bit going on. First, the second batter of the game swung hard at a pitch and actually dislocated his knee. He fell to the ground and the coaches were trying to locate a medic--which they never have at the games. So they called an ambulance while the poor kid was lying on the ground with his leg twisted at the knee. It took about an hour before the ambulance took him and they could restart the game.

At one point during the double header, I actually got hit in the head with a foul softball from the field behind us! It came down directly on top of my head and bounced right into my camera bag. Yes, it hurt--for days.

Finally, in this picture below, there was a very close play at home plate (Eli is catcher). I like this picture because the kid from the other team threw his hands out to indicate that his teammate was safe--and at the same time, you can see the umpire is calling him out. Well, the kid who was tagged out got so mad that he started spouting off at the mouth very loudly and the umpire actually threw him out of the game! And not too long after that, he threw a parent out for yelling not-so-nice things. He wasn't messing around--I liked that!

Just another picture of Duck cuddling with me in the morning... :)  I probably have at least 20,000 of these in my camera roll.

Jerry asked me if I wanted to play a game one afternoon, so I said sure. When I looked through our games, I don't know why I suggested Guess Who?--neither of us had played that since we were kids--but it was simple and we didn't have to get out a ton of pieces.

For anyone who played Guess Who? as a kid, you know there were certain people you didn't want to end up with because they were minorities in the game (I don't just mean their skin color, but people with hats, facial hair, glasses, etc.). If you ended up being a minority, it was much easier for people to guess who you were.

Jerry and I each chose a person for our character (we don't have the cards that you're supposed to draw to get a random person). I figured Jerry would assume I would want to pick the most inconspicuous person (i.e. a blond white male--this game needs an update!). So, I chose Sarah (you can see my pointer in the top right)--the only Black woman and she was wearing glasses. It wasn't the greatest strategy...

Well, it worked out exactly how it used to when I was a kid. He asked if I was white, and I said no. So he knocked down all but five people. I wanted my question to be a bit different, so I asked if his eyes were pointing toward the left. I was able to eliminate about a third or so of the people. Then Jerry had to copy my great question (haha)--he asked if I was looking straight ahead. Sarah is the only Black woman staring straight ahead, so after just two questions, he knew who I was! I told him he had to wait until his next turn to guess (I don't know if that's an official rule, but it sounded fair.)

I tried to think like Jerry. I assumed he would play with the completely opposite mine--NOT being a minority. So I eliminated all of the people with hats, glasses, facial hair, etc. I started looking at what I had left and eliminating whatever stood out. One was a girl, so I eliminated her. One of the men had black hair, so I eliminated him. I was left with Jake and William, both blond men. Meanwhile, Jerry was watching me with a smug smirk on his face. I wanted to beat him by thinking this through!

At that point, I had to just look at the two and guess which one I thought Jerry would likely pick. I decided on Jake--so I asked him, "Are you Jake?" He was dumbfounded. I was right! In August, we'll have been married 20 years, so I guess we know each other well ;) 

When I was lying in bed, Chick was on the shelf above me and scared me half to death when I looked up. He had his face looking through the hole on the shelf (for the cats to climb through). It looked kind of cool with his shadow on the ceiling!

I started Duolingo (Spanish) again about a week ago. I had done it before but not for long. A friend of mine was on a 500-day streak, and it inspired me to start completely over from the very first lesson, and it's been kind of fun flying through the lessons with all of the stuff I already know (from high school Spanish).

Anyway, it's no secret that I love Wordle, and I learned there is a Spanish Wordle puzzle every day, so I've been doing that along with English. I'm terrible at it! Most of the time, I just make up words that sound Spanish and try them out. I've been terrible about sticking with my New Year's goal of learning a new vocabulary word each week (I just forget to do it) so I thought Duolingo would be a nice alternative.

I was SO FRUSTRATED yesterday. I had been wanting to try an alteration of a pair of jeans and finally decided to work on it yesterday morning. I pushed my sewing machine too hard to get through several layers of denim and I messed up the machine. I spent a couple of hours working on it and finally gave up because I couldn't figure it out.

Today, I decided to try again--Jerry was ready to buy a new one on Amazon and I didn't want him to do that--and I watched some YouTube videos. None of them had the same problem mine did, but it helped me to take apart the machine a bit and try to solve the problem myself. It was actually kind of cool to see how the parts move from underneath the machine. Somehow, I fixed it! 

And then I (very carefully) finished what I was doing with my jeans. I like mid-rise or even high-rise jeans because I have no butt to hold jeans up when they sit around my hips. But I loved this pair of Express jeans--I've actually held onto them (wearing them on and off when they fit me, ha!) since probably 2010. They don't have any stretch to them, which is what I love about them--I don't like wearing jeans that have stretch because they just seem to get bigger throughout the day and I'm always tugging at them.

I always save jeans that I don't want anymore--for parts, basically. I reuse whatever I can from them to alter other jeans. So I grabbed a pair of jeans that had been mid-rise (the waist was smaller than the Express ones), and I used the waistband of them. I sewed it just inside the Express pair, making the jeans taller (to a mid-rise height). I don't *love* the way it looks, but I never wear shirts that are short enough to show my waistband anyway. They are super comfy and they stay up over my hip bones now!

I recently learned something that was completely mind-blowing to me. I've been sewing since I was a kid, and I *never knew* there was a reason for the little ball on the end of a seam ripper. I just assumed it was there so you don't poke your fingers. When watching a YouTube video, I learned that you can rip seams in jeans SO FAST when you have the pointed side on the top of the fabric and the ball side underneath. (I cannot remember the video or I would link it--but I'm sure if I had ever bothered to google it, I would have learned this ages ago.)

The ball keeps the end from poking into the fabric, so you just slide the seam ripper straight up like you're zipping up a jacket. It literally took me all of 15 seconds to take apart this whole seam up the leg of a pair of jeans without ripping the fabric.

Well, I'm off to Eli's baseball game--have a great weekend! xo

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Three Things Thursday: Food!

It seems like over the last few weeks, I've said on multiple occasions, "This is the best thing I've ever eaten!"  I'm not sure if it was just because I was very hungry when I ate them or what, but I figured I would write about three of them before I discover even more recipes that are "the best" thing I've ever eaten.

None of the three that I'm going to write about were actually never-before-tried recipes--I've made them before. But for some reason, they were just so good recently that I called them the best. It's hard to narrow it down to three favorite recipes! So these will be three of the recent things I've made that I consider the best...

1) Sweet Korean Lentils

I never, ever would have guessed that I would love these lentils so much! I found this recipe in a cookbook I have from Sam Turnbull at It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. Her recipes are usually hit or miss for me--not much middle ground. But these lentils are SO good and perfect when I need to come up with something quick and easy to make--without a bunch of ingredients I don't happen to have on hand. When I have green onions, I add those as well.

I'm glad this recipe is also online, so that I can share the link here. I probably never would have tried this recipe if a reader hadn't suggested it (I cannot, for the life of me, remember who it was--but thank you!). This is made with red lentils which are softer and cook faster than brown lentils. I like the texture of them better, too. We eat this over brown basmati rice; if I have rice already cooked in the fridge, dinner can be ready in 15 minutes!

2) Tofu (or Chickpea) Tikka Masala

I don't have a picture of the tofu version I made, but it's the same as this chickpea version--only with tofu instead of chickpeas.

I had never heard of Tikka Masala until about five years ago when I tried this Chickpea Tikka Masala recipe from The Iron You--and I was immediately in love. I had never tried Indian food and when I made it, I was skeptical--I had never even tried garam masala before. (When I was growing up, we never really ate ethnic food.)

I really loved the chickpea version but a couple of weeks ago, I saw that we only had one can of chickpeas (it calls for three) and I decided to try to swap tofu instead. I pressed the tofu well so that it would soak up a lot of the sauce. I used one and a half blocks of tofu, but I think using just one would work out well, too. When you add the coconut milk, it looks VERY thin, but after adding the small amount of cornstarch slurry it's the perfect texture.

To make it with tofu, I followed the recipe as written, but instead of adding the chickpeas, I skipped over them. I cut the tofu into bite size pieces and added them to the sauce, stirring in gently so they didn't break apart, then let them cook over low heat in the sauce for about 15 minutes before adding the cornstarch. (I added about 1/4 cup of water with the tofu because the tofu made the mixture thicker than when using chickpeas.) I cannot even describe how good this is! It makes a very large amount (probably six servings) and the leftovers are just as good. We ate this with brown basmati rice.

3) Firecracker Tofu

I am absolutely sure this is one of the highest-calorie recipes I've ever made, but it's kind of a pain to make--so I won't be making it often. It is absolutely 100% worth making once in a while, though! If you like the fast food-type takeout (like Panda Express), you will love this. It definitely hits that craving for junk food takeout.

I actually posted a review of this on my blog, which you can find here. Reading it over just now, I saw that I didn't love it the first time as much as I currently do--I'm not sure if that was because I had only recently started eating tofu at the time or what, but in the recipe that I typed out, I wrote "adapted from" Vegan Travel Eats--so I probably made a few small changes to reflect what I wanted after trying it as-written. Unfortunately, the site that I got this recipe from is no longer online, so I will share the one I typed out here.

The only change I made most recently (which is reflected in the one I typed) was that I used maple syrup instead of brown sugar (my attempt at making it *slightly* healthier). I also tossed all of the tofu at once in the cornstarch, then added the soy milk + vegan mayo mixture and gently stirred (to batter the tofu pieces) before frying. The original recipe said to do one piece at a time, but that wasn't necessary.

I absolutely recommend using parchment paper when baking this because the sauce gets VERY sticky (which is part of what makes it so good!). It's not ridiculously spicy, so if you like things to be on the spicy side, you may want to add more red pepper flakes. Serve it over rice--I've been loving brown basmati for everything lately.

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 99

Usually I feel like the weeks go by so fast, but it seems like forever ago that I did last week's weigh-in. I've been getting used to the change in schedules for spring and being a "baseball mom" again, and this week was definitely less stressful. Like I wrote about in my "Problems and Solutions" post, I used the crockpot this week when I knew the evenings would be hectic. I haven't batch-cooked yet, but I did make extra sauce for a couple of tofu/rice meals that will be easy to throw together, as well as some extra homemade pizza crusts and cashew cheese for quickly assembling mini pizzas.

I can always tell when things are calming down around here because it's much easier to maintain a routine. And I definitely thrive on routine! I think writing out the "Problems and Solutions" was helpful for that. Aside from the crockpot to help with the cooking issue, I finished the cat shelves in the bedroom in one (long) evening and I am SO glad that the room no longer feels "under construction". I was able to move the tools and things lying around into the garage--it's nice to get rid of that clutter!

I still haven't gone for a run. It's tempting to blame the weather, because we've had some really crappy days, but--that would be an excuse ;)  We've also had some really gorgeous days!

Anyway, last week my weight was at 140.6, and I said that I was hoping to see the 130's today...

I barely made it, but I was at 139.8 this morning--I'm happy with that!

My weight has definitely been moving downward more slowly this time. I had a really great week with my eating habits--rather than eating what I could whenever I could, I made it a point to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and usually a little peanut butter for a snack before bed).

I really like the fact that I haven't counted calories in at least a year and I'm able eat what I know to be the "normal" portions. After having pretty much no appetite in the fall to doubling down in the winter, I feel good that I was able to regulate it without having to measure out my food. I'm willing to do it if needed, but in a perfect world, of course, I wouldn't have to. As long as I continue to see progress (even maintaining my weight will feel like progress) I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing.

One thing that I'd like to focus on this week is getting in more vegetables. I'm good with fruits, but I'm not a fan of raw vegetables so I usually have them with dinner (in a stir-fry, soup, pasta, or something like that). Ideally, I'd make a big batch of roasted veggies and keep it on hand to eat with whatever we have for dinner (I used to do this a couple of times a week). Now that I'm finding a routine again, I'd like to do that--I *love* roasted broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and peppers.

If all goes well, I'll get a little deeper in to the 130's next Wednesday. The top of my "happy range" is 135, so I'm approaching--slowly but surely :)

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