Beautiful Olive

Category: Posts

Listen Up!
The first sound that I can ever remember hearing: My Papa at his breakfast table in tiny Hardtner, Kansas, very middle of the U.S.A. My Grammy made his breakfast every morning before he went to work on the construction site. Bacon, eggs and toast. He would cut the eggs down to bite-size with his knife and fork on the white Corelle plate. The eggs were cut precisely to a uniform size. The knife and fork made a very distinct click-clack sound that I can still hear in my mind to this day. I’ve tried to replicate it, but have yet to master his knife-and-fork art form. Admittedly, I don’t own any Corelle. That could be the missing piece. But, it’s more likely that my Papa’s sounds of life just can’t be duplicated.

Hearing is the least appreciated sense of the 5 (or 6, if you believe we are more than our physical selves) because it’s 99% under the radar. Stop and consider the sounds in your day:
1. We have an owl in our ‘hood. He orients me to the time of day. He prompts me to turn my head this way and that to “find” his rooftop perch. He makes me pause and stay still just a bit longer than usual so I can take in his majestic hoot. He knows things I don’t. His hoot beckons me to learn more about his life instead of focusing on mine.
2. Our house plumbing sings a subtle song when my people in the house wake up and move about. The sound gives me a warning of who is about to clear the stairs and make themselves known. It might be a kid, it might be a husband (well, there is just the one) – you pay attention because the origin of the sound gives you the clue of whose face is about to pop up. It tells me it’s time to put down the coffee and book and get moving. The day is officially starting. Without my pipe’s serenade, I’m not sure I’d get going.
3. Our fancy coffee machine hums while she delivers her goods. She also hums when she hasn’t been touched for 2 hours, letting me know she is officially off-duty.
4. My neighbor’s front door squeaks when it opens and shuts. I love to see their boys move in and out of the house and I’m not ashamed to stand at the window and stare. Children are a beautiful thing. (Sight is a close second favorite sense, after all)
5. The basketball on the driveway, bouncing off the backboard. That’s enough about that. Lol.
6. The electric cars that move up and down my street. They are mostly Teslas, but there are a few others. That electric sound is totally mesmerizing – so much so that I might need to get one in the future.
7. The music in my local grocery store. ABBA, Journey, Peaches and Herb. No legit big-box store plays up-to-date music. It’s against grocery store music law.
8. My dog has a resounding “Oooff” when he lays down. Every time. I hope that never changes.
9. The surgery center on the floor above my office. The chairs move mid-morning to mid-afternoon. I believe it’s the break room, but I don’t know this for certain. ***The stories we tell ourselves to fill in the unknowns are as important as the story itself. I don’t need to know if it’s the breakroom because it’s the break room in MY story, and that’s what counts.
10. My Sunday paper hitting my driveway and the delivery driver zipping away. That is just beautiful.
11. The garage door, front door, refrigerator door, dryer door.
12. The ice maker. The blender. The electric razor.
13. Anyone on FaceTime. In our house, they are often situated face-up, staring at the ceiling while we keep going about our business. Once again, hearing trumps sight…
14. Laughter. Laughter. Laughter.
What is the first sound you remember hearing? Ode to SOUNDS. They orient us without our awareness and define our space in such a specific way. I hope I can hear all the things to my very last days. But if I can’t, I’m confident my mind will fill in the blanks. What a beautiful gift to hear life happening all around us. Happy listening!
February 25, 2024
Do You Know What a Loser Is?

This past Friday, I was prepared to shut down the blog. The internet was full of sadness over the passing of The Queen of Mommy Blogging, The OG Mom Blogger, Dooce. I pored over the tributes and read some of her best posts. I loved her take and will miss her beautiful words. As I took in the commentary from around the planet, I thought “It sounds like blogging is mostly dead. I think there are other platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram and a whole host of others that I know nothing about that must be the platforms of today. I missed the boat and have nothing new to add to these new-fangled ways of communicating. People don’t want to read blogs. They want visual content and it needs to be in 1-2 minute increments.”

So I decided I would bury Beautiful Olive. Why pay for the website hosting, the Constant Contact subscription, and the domain name rights when it was just sitting out in the internet world languishing with no new content? When blogging was old-school and a thing of yesterday?

Have you ever tried to cancel an auto-renew subscription? Well, the business-savvy peeps of the world are business-savvy for a reason. And they have figured out that if they make it really hard to cancel an auto-renew subscription, 92% of people won’t cancel it. You can buy almost anything online, without talking to a single person, with a single mouse click. But if you want to cancel something, you have to CALL someone and TALK to someone first. No amount of mouse clicks will get you there. This is why, two days later, I have not yet canceled Beautiful Olive or any of the internet extras that accompany her. I would have to make phone calls and talk to people and I am an introvert. We don’t play that way. We do not like to talk to strangers whose goals are exactly opposite ours.

So, the blog is still here because it was too much of a pain to cancel it. And, then I woke up today and I decided to write. So, there you go.

“Do you know what a loser is? A real loser is somebody who is so afraid of not winning they don’t even try.”
Grandpa, “Little Miss Sunshine”

It’s Mother’s Day and my typical MO celebration has been to do whatever I want with wild abandon. Mimosas and blueberry muffins for breakfast. Naps. Reading. A dinner fit for a queen, complete with dessert. And wine. Plenty of wine. Sometime after becoming a mom, I declared it the day of indulgence and I always indulged.

But, some things happened to me over this past week (which I will tell you about in a minute) and all week when my husband or sons would ask what I wanted to do for Mother’s Day this year, I would answer “I don’t know. Not much. I know what I don’t want. I don’t want to have mimosas or blueberry muffins or a bottle of wine or naps. I know that’s what I don’t want. I’ll get back to you…”

I’ve been on a collision course for the past year with my bad choices and habits. I weigh more than I should or ever have, I drink entirely too much alcohol, I don’t get the exercise I need and my ability to deal with life’s stressors is out of whack. The real struggle is in the knowledge of these things on the one hand and doing nothing about them on the other hand. The cognitive dissonance takes our anxiety to an even higher level and then we are even more unhappy with ourselves. It’s a vicious cycle. Because we are thoughtful, intelligent beings, we really should be able to figure this out. But, we can’t. So, we are losers.

I’ve had the “Why do I KNOW what I need to do, but do the opposite?” conversation with myself so many times over the past year I’ve lost count. And every time I have had that conversation, I would follow up with “And, are you ready to do something about it?” And every time, the answer was a resounding “Nope. Tomorrow. Come back tomorrow and ask again. Maybe the answer will be different.” And I would stroll off with my glass of wine.

About a week ago, I had the same conversation, but the answer was different. You can tell when it’s different. It feels like it rises up from your core and is straight-up bellicose. Everything starts to align and suddenly you’re just ready. You holler back at the old self who answered “Nope” every time. “Hey. Old Self. New Me is taking over. We don’t need your help anymore. We got this. Bye-bye.”

I don’t know what flipped the switch. All I know is that I’ve been praying for it to flip for the past year and I knew I would know when it did. I was glad it flipped on Sunday because I had an appointment for a routine physical on Tuesday. “Whew!” I thought. “This is great! I dodged that bullet! Thanks, Me!” But, apparently, two days of changed habits is not enough lead time for your lab values to be whipped into shape and my doctor called me on Wednesday to tell me that I might need to go on some medication to combat some concerning findings. 😲

Truth be told, my inactivity, my diet, my relationship with alcohol (that is a really dumb term) was really getting wildly out of control. I think it was pretty dark at times. And when it’s dark, we peer out of the hole and look around at everybody else to see how they’re doing. And when everybody else seems to be doing just fine, we clamp the shell down even tighter, don’t we? But the inner turmoil is still there beneath the surface. Somehow, we can’t figure out how to just do what we know we need to do. We are losers.

Well, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. The switch will flip. The inner turmoil will work its way to the surface and demand a decision about who wins. I woke up this Mother’s Day and I RODE A BIKE for 30 minutes. I drank water and fasted until 2 p.m. I’m writing, not napping. At dinner, I’m going with CAULIFLOWER MASH instead of POTATO MASH. I e-mailed my physician and asked for a 6-month reprieve, medication-free, to get my sh*t in order. And I’ll gladly pay out of pocket to get new labs drawn in 6 months so I can prove that my switch has indeed flipped.

Will I feel as sure tomorrow or the next day or the next as I do today? I don’t know. This isn’t my first rodeo. We are all a work in progress, all of the time. Today, I woke up and I felt like writing. I felt like riding a bike instead of drinking a mimosa. I felt like eating an orange instead of a blueberry muffin. And I felt like being a better mom to my boys, which means some of my dark, crap habits have to take a back seat. So many of us are fighting crazy fierce battles. We get really good at hiding them from the world. Keep the conversation going with yourself. Let her answer “Nope” as long as she needs to. When the timing is right, she will suddenly answer “Yes” and you will know. And you will always be a winner in my book.

Happy Mother’s Day, my beautiful friends. You are nothing short of fabulous today and every day.

May 14, 2023
Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? Sesame Street for Grown-Ups

“The ‘Burbs”, 1989

Have you seen “The ‘Burbs”? It is hands-down the best “neighbor” movie ever made. I first saw it in the mid-90s and at that time, I just loved it because it was hilarious. It wasn’t until decades later in life that I came to realize how much truth was embedded in that movie. This post is for the neighbors out there that have forged some of the deepest friendships known to man simply because they weren’t afraid to get to know their neighbors.

Here’s the first thing to know about neighbors. You don’t get to pick them. Yes, when you house shop you scope out the neighbors as best you can. You make judgments based on the appearance of the yards, the number of cars parked on the street, how well the house is kept up. You might judge their outside lighting – is it loud, white, and fluorescent or is it soothing, soft, and yellow (I might be biased)? You might try to gawk at their bumper stickers – how many stick figures, dogs, cats? But, this is not really knowing them. Not at all. You don’t really get to know them until after you’ve moved in. And by that point, you own the house. Nope. You don’t get to pick your neighbors.

Here’s the second thing to know about neighbors. Embedded in the very essence of “you don’t get to pick them”, a neighborhood is by default a menagerie of people. The neighbors have varying personalities, ages, quirks, careers, lifestyles, religions, and opinions. The chances are super high that you would not have matched with many of them as friends if you were doing a Match.com for friendship. This can be daunting when you move into a new ‘hood. We tend to make friends with people who most align with us. So, when we first move to a new ‘hood, we make brief introductions and small talk and we assess who amongst them is most like us. Then we decide who we want to get to know better. And that’s where a lot of neighborhoods begin and end – stick with what you know. Gravitate to those most like you and leave it at that. Well, I’ve come to realize that friendships with neighbors can go much deeper than that.

Three years ago, it was a Sunday evening and we had only been living in our new house for about two months. Suddenly, Matt went missing from the garage. When I last checked on him, he had been doing some work in his garage brewery. Ten minutes later, he was gone. If you know Matt, this is not urgent so I just went about my business.

Within half an hour of his disappearance, our doorbell rang. I’m an introvert – I don’t answer the phone or the door or the kiosk salespeople at the mall and I also don’t actively search for a missing extroverted husband unless at least two hours have gone by. Whoever it was would not go away so I reluctantly answered it. There were two of my new neighbors at the door, whom I had never met, telling me that they had my husband next door. They said “It’s nice to meet you! Come over to meet our spouses and have drinks and food!” I was horrified and probably a little annoyed. It was Sunday night. I don’t do things on Sunday nights. It’s practically Monday on Sunday night. Preparations need to be made and some routines need to be followed. However, these two ladies I had never met would not take no for an answer. So, I begrudgingly went. I’ll spare you the details, but who knew you could have fun on a Sunday night!? They taught me that.

Fast-forward three years and our gang have grown six couples deep. We are, in many ways, as different as night and day. These neighbors have taught me what it truly means to be a part of a diverse community. Last week I paused to consider what the common thread is that binds us together. Is it that we live on the same street? No. That’s just how we first met. We have grown so close because we respect each other and all of the ways we are different. We are kind to each other. And that is our common thread.

Here is how different we are. We have golfers, cricket-players, gardeners, socialites, introverts, early birds and sleeper-inners. We have neat garages, messy garages and everything in between. Some of us have a lot of kids and some of us have one. Some of our kids are bookish and whip-smart and responsible and some of them tend more toward the social, funny, wild side. Some of us have too many cars (LOL) and some of us have only one for the whole family. Guess what? We don’t care about any of that!

Of the 12 of us, we are Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian. My neighbors bring us gifts on Christmas and wish us a Happy Easter. In turn, we support them through Ramadan and celebrate their New Years’ and their festivals. Some of us don’t eat certain meats, some of us can’t eat gluten. Some of us can’t handle spice and some of us buy Thai chiles by the pound. Some of us drink, some don’t. Some of us take breaks from drinking and we diet and exercise and go through phases. We have it all here on Briargrove Way and diversity doesn’t scare us. Here’s the bottom line: We care about each other and we are never rude to one another. We never make fun of each other for our diets, preferences, opinions, and idiosyncrasies, no matter how different they may be from the next. We started with a basic level of respect and that was our foundation for building an amazing neighborhood posse.

And here is why this matters. Mostly, the past three years have been rainbows and unicorns on Briargrove Way. We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations. We celebrate chess victories, gymnastics medals, business successes, May Day, and the addition of a new hot tub. We celebrate green grass and Costco treasures. But, because statistics are a thing and life doesn’t stay the same forever, I know that many of our families will face some sort of hardship or tragedy or sadness in some coming season. So far, we’ve only faced hunting for the lost cat or dog (found!) or the sudden need for cooking ingredients or the craziness of quarantine. But I know a hardship is always a possibility and I also know that when that happens, they will have my back and I will have theirs. It’s a beautiful thing.

None of us gets left out in our ‘hood. For any reason. Would my posse of neighbors go help Ray dig up that dead body in the Klopek’s basement? Hell yes, we would! Why? Because after three short years with these people, we would do just about anything for each other. And how did we get here? Because we started off by respecting each other and all of the ways we are different. I love these neighbors. They have my heart and have taught me so much more about diversity in community than I ever thought possible. I owe them so much more than I will ever be able to give back to them. I’m one lucky girl that my friends kidnapped my husband and rang my doorbell three short years ago!

“The ‘Burbs, 1989”

May 31, 2021
Go Get All That You’re After!

It’s Sunday. We need fuel for the week ahead. Let’s arm ourselves.

The Four Stages of Creativity

Stage 1: The Problem

Last Thursday, I was told that something that was supposed to be approved/done/operating by this point in time, was now going to take another few months. I was counting on this particular thing to come through. It has the potential to grow my business more quickly and get us into a more stable position. Less worry=happy owner. But, it’s just not going to happen right now. It’s almost completely out of my control, aside from writing a few letters to my state representatives. The Calvary is not coming. They’re busy. It is time to pivot (I am really hating this word).

When I am delivered a dagger such as this, the feelings are overwhelming. Me, talking to me: What am I going to do??? I was really counting on that coming through and it would have made such a difference. Think. Think. You’ve got to come up with something different. Why does this have to be so hard? There’s got to be another answer, another option, another way to do this. Think. Think. You’ve got to keep fighting, keep clawing, keep climbing. Think. Think. You’re smart. You’ve done this before. You just have to find the right answer. Think. Think. Think! Why aren’t the answers coming??

All the time I’m having this conversation inside my head, I’m still going through the motions of the day because the day doesn’t stop. I can’t just sit and stare at the wall. People need me to do what I do, no matter the banter inside my skull. So I carry around this urgent, scary matter. It’s not productive, but I carry it because it’s urgent and scary and somebody has got to fix this problem. It’s like a ball and chain around the ankle. I can move all about, I’m not shackled in place, but the damn thing is stuck to me and it goes everywhere I go and it’s ugly and heavy. Stage 1. The Problem.

Stage 2: LaLa Land

At some point, my brain becomes tired of carrying this mental anguish around and decides that there has got to be a break. I cut off the ball and chain. I tell it “I know you’re not going away. You’re going to be back here Monday morning. That’s fine. But I need to not think about you right now. I need a break. I need to feel normal and believe that everything is fine.” Then, I spend time doing things that make me feel like there is zero problem. Time with friends, family, a book, a tv show. Something that takes my mind away to a better place. Stage 2. LaLa Land.

Stage 3: The Creative Process

LaLa Land typically lasts 12-24 hours. You can’t disengage for much longer than that or there will be even bigger problems than the original problem. Gradually, I start to come back into the mainstream. I take control of some things that can actually be controlled like my schedule, my environment, my thoughts. Grab anything that can be controlled and corral it. For me, it was a cleaning frenzy.

In the midst of my cleaning, I let my problem edge back into the forefront. Lenny Kravitz, who is just the best there is, was singing to me through all my chores. Creative ways to approach my crisis began to randomly pop into my head. The thoughts were jumbled at first. But, I just kept doing what I was doing – controlling what I can control, in this case, cleaning the bedroom – and just letting the thoughts flow. I was feeling more optimistic and more in control. As ideas were taking on a more concrete form, Lenny belted out “Go get all that you’re after.” Hmmm.

Go get all that you’re after. Inspiration and energy were creeping in. I was starting to see new ways of looking at my problem. And there was Lenny telling me what to do. I grabbed my husband and we went to lunch. We spent two hours hashing through the ideas that were forming and devising plans for carrying them out. I was operating on all of the cylinders and I felt so in control. It was a great day and the world was deliriously full of promise because I now had a laundry list of solutions. I was ready to fix everything. Stage 3. The Creative Process.

Then, I woke up the next day…

Stage 4: The Creative Process Hangover

This is where you have to be really, really aware. You will wake up the next day and you will question everything you told yourself the day before at the height of your creative inspiration. You will doubt every one of your ideas. You will look them over and think “These might be good ideas, but it’s going to take too much energy to carry them out. I’m not bold enough or brave enough or skilled enough. I don’t know enough. I’m not the right person. I need to slow down a minute and think about this. This might get UNCOMFORTABLE.” Stage 4. The Creative Process Hangover.

Listen up. NO, YOU DON’T NEED TO SLOW DOWN. DO NOT SLOW DOWN. Do you remember how energetic, how alive, and how inspired you were yesterday when you were in the midst of all those ideas? Remember how good it felt to crack open novel solutions that you knew were the right answer for YOU? THAT is who you are! That is YOU! You are NOT the timid, questioning, cautious, scared person that you think you are. You are brave, bold, and daring and your soul knows it. That’s why it gave you all of that content in Stage 3. That’s why your heart beat the most perfect rhythm, your smile hogged all the facial real estate and your energy was infectious to all who were around you in that creative element. That’s your best you. It just is.

I don’t know why we can’t live in Stage 3 all of the time, but we don’t get to ask those questions. As near as I can tell, this is the process. Maybe the desperation of an “unsolvable” problem followed by the subsequent LaLa Land escape have to happen first so we can enter this creative nirvana? Problems are not solved when we stick too close to the problem. We have to get off the highway and roam around for a while. Find something else to do. Go bury ourselves in something we CAN control. Pretty soon, the answers will come. When they start to take shape, we have to relish the feeling of empowerment, courage, optimism, and energy. We have to ride that wave for as long as we can. We have to squeeze as many ideas as we can out of that moment. Let it go on for as long as it must! Document, document, document. Journal, Tik-Tok, paper napkin, sketches – put those ideas any and everywhere, but put them down! We will need the evidence tomorrow, I promise you. Stage 4 has never NOT appeared on the heels of Stage 3. I hate her.

You must expect the creative process hangover. It’s real. Every time I go through one of these really intense dreaming/planning sessions where the ideas and possibilities explode, I have to beware the next day. I wake up and I doubt all those great ideas. I get caught up in the logistics. I get stuck in the “Yes, but…” and I disbelieve that I am the one that has the authority to carry out these dreams of mine. It’s good to ask some questions, but please don’t doubt what your soul told you in those really fruitful moments. The reason you felt so alive and so proud and so full of enthusiasm was that these solutions were true for you. You gifted them to you! They are genuine – use them!

As I get older, I realize the importance of documenting everything I come up with when I am in Stage 3. Every idea, no matter how wild. We need that hard evidence. We lose our memories as we get older and we won’t remember every one of the great ideas. Only figments. And figments aren’t enough to fend off Stage 4. When Stage 4 comes around you need to gather all of your evidence, your hard-fought ideas, your sketches, your videos, your notes and shove them right into Stage 4’s eyeballs. Fight back. Don’t believe the negativity that Stage 4 feeds you. It is not true. It is not you. You have to go get all that you’re after. You wrote all the good stuff down in notes to yourself, yesterday. That is the truth. Reference it as often as needed. 💪👊

Have a glorious week, ladies. Go get all that you’re after! XOXO

February 22, 2021
A Menagerie of Things
Hi! Long time, no see! Sorry about that. 😬

When I started this blog, I made a deal with myself – that the blog was a HOBBY and that the writing must be enjoyable and never forced. So, I just haven’t felt the passion to write over the past month. If I don’t feel it, the words don’t appear on the screen. It’s just how it is. I hope you have a hobby where you do the same. Hobbies should never be forced. Take a moment (seriously) and make sure that your truest, most beloved hobbies are present when you need them and not required when you don’t. Okay, let’s move on.

How are you doing at this mid-point of February??? This time of year is always a mixed bag. Maybe you are crushing some of your beginning-of-the-year goals and maybe some of the other goals had to be hurled out the back door, reimagined, or rewritten. February always brings a reckoning of sorts. We have to decide which things we are going to “stick to” and carry right on into springtime and which things we are D.O.N.E. with. Hence, this little write-up. I don’t know what you need right now because mid-February is a motley for all of us as we sort these things out. So I have for you some words of advice, some food ideas (both healthy and not, because we are all in a different space in time) and some cool stuff I’ve found. It’s a menagerie of things and maybe you need one of them!

First things first. The advice of the day is to keep showing up. Whatever it is you’re grappling with, keep showing up. During the big quarantine that began last March, I started a daily Bible reading practice using the Bible in One Year app. Before last March, I had never really shown up daily to read the Bible. I had a few microbursts through the years, but I had never been this faithful to the practice for such a consistent time. I am now 9/10 of the way through reading the entire Bible. I’ve never done that before.

And now this is where you think I’m going to say “And wow! This consistency has changed my life!”

Well, I’m not going to tell you that. The first 6 weeks of 2021 have been HARD. Much harder than I thought they would be when we flipped the calendar over on January 1. I’ve had increasing stresses, worries, and issues that keep appearing and I thought for sure we were going to turn a corner. Multiple times I have mumbled to God “I don’t know how much more of this I can take, God, what is THE DEAL? I need to see the plan. I don’t think you have the right plan…”

The other morning I came downstairs, made the coffee, grabbed the Bible and opened the app. Just like I always do. And I distinctly remember thinking “Why do I keep doing this? I’ve been doing this for almost a whole year. Daily, I’ve been showing up and poring over His word. I’ve never been this devoted to this practice before and yet, nothing magical seems to be happening. Things seem messier than ever. I’m running out of ideas. I thought this would bring me closer to God and make my path in life clearer and instead it feels like I am stuck on pause.”

But, I opened the reading for that day anyway and I sat down and did what I’ve been doing every morning for the past eleven months. Why??? Because in my soul I feel this practice is important and valuable. Even if nothing results that I can tangibly grasp at that moment. Even if nothing results that I can tangibly grasp, ever! This advice is not about whether you should read the Bible or pray or meditate. We’re not getting into religion here. This is about showing up for whatever you believe is important FOR YOU. So, whatever it is that YOU KNOW IN YOUR SOUL to be so important that you just have to keep doing it, keep showing up for that. Even if you can’t see the reward. Because that is the foundation of HOPE. And where there is HOPE there is always another day, another opportunity, another way.

Now. Onto more whimsical, but equally important things. Let’s talk food.

Do you need easy ways to feed your kids? Yourself? Do you need healthy? Do you need yummy? Here are several ideas I’ve relied on through the years that have yet to fail.
- Peanut Butter, Jelly, Banana, Chocolate Chip Sandwiches (PBJB&CC) Hands-down favorite in this household. It’s a little messy. It’s a lot yummy. Butter two slices of bread on the one side and lay them butter-side down on a cutting board. Now spread peanut butter on one piece and jelly on the other. Layer banana slices and chocolate chips on top of the peanut butter. Use a thin spatula to slide the slice off the cutting board (remember, there’s butter underneath there and it’s just messy – as thin a spatula as possible will do the trick), slide that onto a hot griddle or skillet, place the jellied slice on top and let everything get toasty and melty, flipping once. Everybody loves this one. There is just nothing wrong with this sandwich. Not one thing.
- Nacho Bar Lay out several cookie sheets, lay sheets of foil on top, and power the oven to broil. Lay out any/all fixings you can find. Leftover meat, any and all cheeses, mangos, black beans, onions, peppers. I once made turkey nachos after Thanksgiving and everyone laughed and laughed until they saw my plate. Nacho anything is the bomb. This is a great clean-out-the-fridge idea. Everybody makes their own, the foil IS the plate, cleanup is super easy and everyone is happy, happy, happy.
- Chicken Sandwiches This is modeled after a sandwich from Quinton’s Deli (Lawrence, Kansas) called the T.A.C. If you’ve been there, you know. You need sliced grilled chicken, avocado, provolone cheese, red onion, and cream cheese. You need honey mustard – we make our own. Mix mayo, honey, and yellow mustard. Keep mixing and tasting until it’s right. I can’t give you specific measurements, that messes up too many kitchen utensils. Just keep mixing, tasting, adjusting until you like it. You need deli bread of some kind – we use hoagies. Butter the inside of the bread and toast or grill the bread before assembly. Please don’t skip this step. Toasted sandwiches are elevated and fancy and we’re trying to mix it up here. Slap honey mustard on both top and bottom slices, layer on provolone, grilled chicken slices, avocado, red onion, and cream cheese slices. We never even have a side dish with this because it is that good.
- Teriyaki Chicken Wraps This is modeled after a long-since-closed salad and wrap shop on Lawrence’s west side called Razzy’s. RIP Razzy’s, we loved your wraps. You need large tortillas, cooked rice, teriyaki sauce (don’t make your own – you don’t need to see how much sugar goes in there), sliced mango, grilled chicken, red onion, avocado, and lettuce. Layer the ingredients, roll it, eat it. Our kids ask for this on repeat and have been for years.
- Avocado, Tomato, and Mozarella Bowl Need something healthier than all that yumminess I’ve thrown at you? This is my go-to. I eat this almost every day. Sliced avocado, mozzarella cheese (find it in the deli section – I buy the pearls, they’re already in bite-size pieces and I just tear off what I want), sliced grape tomatoes. Drizzle on olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add salt and pepper. It’s the right balance of healthy fat, protein, and FLAVOR. And it’s a beautiful, colorful bowl of food waiting to be devoured. Have some.
- Oscar Meyer P3 Portable Protein Pack You want the turkey and cheddar with Dark Chocolate Nut Clusters. You’ll find these near the Lunchables. It’s the perfect portion size and you get the chocolate toffee clusters for dessert. Be aware that there are other P3 varieties, but NONE of the others come with these chocolate nut clusters, which are perfection. Consequently, the grocery store is very often sold out of this pack and yet they have a bazillion of the other varieties. Listen up, grocery stores: Nobody wants your protein packs without the chocolate clusters. Stop cluttering the shelves with nonsense and just order the right amount of the right kind to keep us going! I shop at a Kroger store and many, many times these packs go on sale – last week I could get them for 99 cents apiece. When they do, I buy them all. (It’s probably not helping, because whenever you see someone buy ALL of something, you immediately think you are missing out. Reference Covid, grocery stores, toilet paper, tortillas and yeast in the spring of 2020) As a hilarious aside, my husband said “I don’t understand why you don’t just cut up turkey and cheddar and find a recipe for chocolate clusters and make your own.” BECAUSE THE PORTION SIZE IS PERFECT AND I DON’T HAVE TO THINK OR DECIDE OR PREPARE ANYTHING. I JUST OPEN AND SAVOR. EVERYBODY NEEDS SOMETHING CONVENIENT THAT MAKES THEM HAPPY AND THIS IS MINE. Thank you, Oscar Meyer. Please tell Kroger to buy more.
- Lily’s Chocolate Bars Stevia-sweetened, for all of you low-carbers out there and genuinely delicious. My favorites are the milk chocolate hazelnut with sea salt and the salted caramel. They come in easy to separate squares, so I just tear off a few small squares whenever I want. These also go on sale at Kroger a lot. I have a stash of bars, all the flavors, none of the guilt…😁
- Quest Lemon Cake Protein Bar These are also, apparently, hugely popular because my grocery store keeps running out. They’ve even started filling the empty space on the shelf where the lemon bars SHOULD be with all the other flavors. All of the other flavors are fine, but they are NOT lemon cake. Quest bars are expensive, no doubt. But, one bar gets me through an entire day so cost, schmost.
Okay, enough about food. Now, here are a few other things that I love.
- Blackwing Pencils I googled “What is the best pencil” and this is what I found. It’s true. I love them. They just feel very special in my hand and the eraser is the bomb. The eraser doesn’t wobble and then suddenly decapitate itself when you try to use it and it doesn’t leave stupid dark smudges. The lead is like butter. And the box is beautiful. If you want a special pencil, this is it. Also, I googled “What is the best pen” and the options are awesome. I don’t have the funds to square that purchase away just yet. Let me know if you have/find a favorite pen. Maybe next month, the finances will free up, per God (see above) and I will also get said pen!
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle This book is wild and brilliant and definitely a little “out there.” But whenever I am freaking out because life feels reckless, I open this book and read something I’ve underlined. There are so many sound pieces of advice in this gem. This book is like having Yoda right there beside you, making everything make sense.
So there you go. A menagerie of things, depending on where you are and what you need. February can be a bear. I’m cheering for you. I will see you soon. XOXO
February 12, 2021