'Dill'icious Dip!

I love veggies. I think they are sexy. *purrrr* I love eating them raw with dip, but truth be told, if you eat them with 'regular' dip, you might as well eat a cheeseburger! I make this dip all the time. The Players: 16 oz. 1% Cottage Cheese - small curd, 2 t dried dill (or 2 T fresh), 2 T chopped green onion. Buttloads of veggies, washed and cut up.

Put it all in the blender, and put it on puree. I normally blend the cottage cheese first, but you don't have to. Another variation of this is just adding a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix to the cottage cheese, but that has SO much sodium and other hard to pronounce ingredients, that I like to go a little more natural.

Now, for goodness sakes, put it in a pretty bowl and garnish it. Yes, even if company isn't coming. Chill it for a few hours for the best taste.

I'll be sharing stories about my body transformation. I've successfully maintained a loss of about 80lbs, but still have so far to go.....joy in the journey right?

PS Just a note. I'm pulling my hair out with the pictures. My lame point and shoot digital just doesn't cut it. I'm trying my best, but can't get the shots I want. Sigh.

Blah Blah Blog

Just letting you all know that I'm WORKING on getting this right.  The pictures don't post where I want them, the fonts don't do what I want.  ARGH.  But I'm having fun.

Tomorrow I'm making California Garlic Chicken Pizza.  So simple.  So delicious. Yournotgonnabelieveit.

Oh, what's up with the kitty?  Just an attention grabber.  That's Calvin.  One of my four cats.  Ya, I'm one of THOSE people.

Meet My Nephew

Meet Aaron. 13 year old genuine goofball. He is homeschooled now. Just thought I'd give you a glimpse as to an almost typical day of school for us. I work part-time, so it does make it a challenge, but we make the best of it. On my days off we do fun stuff like this.

I told him I'd interview him for the blog, to give people HIS perspective of homeschooling. So many people have so many opinions about it. It's not for everyone, I'm sure of that. It's harder than you think, and easier than you'd think. I know that makes no sense, but, well, if you are a homeschooler, it will.

Aaron LOVES it. My sister says that his mood at home has really improved. What prompted me to homeschool you ask? Well. I'd wanted to do it from the starting gate, but 'we' (my sis and I) thought he needed to go to school, being an only child and all, you know, the 'socialization'. He's really involved with his youth group at church, and he has a lot of friends from previous years schooling, so that seems covered now. He struggled in school, and just didn't seem to get the help he needed. He's flourishing now with homeschool, and his self confidence has sky rocketed.

Today we had school at the local library. We rode our bikes up there, it's about a 7 mile trip each way. School at the library proved tough for him. He was involved in everything going on in that place! I never knew the ho-dunk library in Crown Point Indiana was such a hub of activity at 10am on a weekday. I'm sure that he was aware of what everyone in the place was up to. He doesn't miss a thing and can hear like a dog. Two old ladies fighting over the copy machine. An apparent Alzheimer escapee reading the daily newspaper. A hippie with a baby. That one CRACKED me up. This guy's hair was down past his shoulders, and his little boy babies hair was the same. The nut didn't fall far from the tree.

For lunch we rode our bikes up to Starbucks for lunch. Not the GREATEST lunch food, but a nice atmosphere. We'd planned on finishing up Language Arts there, but it proved a bit too distracting for Aaron, the music, the customers, the frother, etc.

We pedaled on home and finished up the day.

Of course I worry alot homeschooling. Worry if I'm teaching him correctly. Worry if he's truly happy. I worry if he'll miss going to prom. I worry that he'll be a sheltered freak when he finally gets out in 'the real world'. Time will tell.

For now, for us. It's a good thing.

A Few of My Favorite Things.....

I'm just going to leave you with this tonight. Four of my favorite things are represented here. My nephew. My garden (soon my precious, soon), my scooter, and summer. It really will come this year. I just know it will.

My head is spinning with post ideas. Please do come back often! I'm planning on having cooking and gardening tutorials, lots of great photos, and a lot of gut spilling. Riveting I'm sure.

I Worry A Lot

I do. In fact, I'm worried now as I type this blog! I'm worried about the picture I'm posting. How weird DO I look? What is that on my lip? My face looks deformed! Why am I posting a picture of me smiling, and titling it 'I Worry A Lot'? I exhaust myself. I worry a lot about a lot. It's silliness. It produces nothing, but stress, which shortens something in my dna (according to Dr. Oz) which ages me, and then I worry about shortening those things, which causes stress, which causes those things to shorten. See where I'm going with this? I worry about all the people I love. Will Aaron, my nephew grow up and be nice? Will he be happy? Will he have good friends and a nice wife? Will my cousin Jimmy whom I adore be ok out there in the woods in Missouri all alone? What will become of my sisters? Was that a carpenter ant? Why do I have a pain in my ovary? Why did Kutner kill himself on House!? Should I really be taking Vitamin D3?

I posted a picture of myself smiling because you know what...that's all I can do. Any my smile isn't fake. It's real. I'm laughing at myself.

Peace out.

Ok, so this wasn't on the list today.....

Didn't PLAN on making bagels today. It just happened. Aaron mentioned the word, and the next thing...well, flour was everywhere. Hey, it's his Home Ec class right?

Laundry is done.

School is done. (thankyoujesus)

Dinner is cooking.

Taxes are at the accountant. What you thought "I" was doing them?

Workout done.

Second cup of coffee for the day. Check.

Still gotta call Aisha!

Monday, Monday - Can't Trust That Day

 It's raining.  No yardwork today, scratch that -- can't say that I'm too disappointed because my to do list today is long enough!  Sometimes I like it when Mother Nature reduces my options for the day.  The taxes are first and foremost on my list today.  What is it today?  The 13th?  I'll do the taxes right after I get the sheets in the wash.  And blog.  And homeschool.  Good Lord, I have to call Aisha!  My brain is as scrambled as the egg whites I had for breakfast.

Easter Sunday 2009

Spent the day with the Millers. It's always a good time with the Miller's. Walt and Bonnie were there, Chris was visiting from Purdue. We ate til we were stuffed.

I also made Hot Cross Buns for the first time today, making anything with yeast is so therapeutic. They turned out great! The Lemon Cornmeal cake was 'ok'. It needed a little bit more baking. The Key Lime Cupcakes, fabulous!

Today is my first day of blogging, so pardon my knuckleheadedness whilst I figure this out.

Today I realized I wouldn't be happy without chickens again. Must have chickens, must make a chicken home first. I don't want them running the yard and porch like they did before.