Three Blogs I Always Read

#30DaysHathNovember

Scrolling through my subscriptions, I think it would be easier to find three blogs that I used to always read. Blogging has pretty much reached it's peak and gone beyond it and a lot of my favorite blogs haven't been updated in ages. :(

Anyway...

The Bloggess

Tudor History Blog

Wine Harlots

Style Inspiration for the Season

#30DaysHathNovember

Something I'm Proud Of

My restraint. This day made it into the top ten worst days of my life and I didn't kill, run over, or beat anyone. No matter how much they could've used a bitch slap to the face. And I don't want to talk about it so don't ask.

The Last Item I Purchased

I am such a very boring person. The last thing I purchased was dinner at Weinerschnitzel. Something slightly more interesting than that is the thing I purchased before that. Say hello to Click & Grow.

If you know me at all or have followed my blog at all, you know that I have a brown thumb. I kill everything I try to grow with the exception of cactus and succulents. If I don't kill it, snails do. Well, I can grow an obscene amount of tomatoes. So many tomatoes that I still have nightmares about them. Overall, I am just a plain old unsuccessful gardener/horticulturalist which is a shame because I love plants, flowers, herbs, and homegrown veggies. 

I heard about Click & Grow around some social networking something. Probably Twitter. It sounded pretty foolproof so I decided to give it a try. I got my kit in the mail on Thursday, rushed it into the house, and broke it out of its box. Setting it up was extremely simple. A mere five days of being turned on and watered and I already have sprouts!! I just noticed today that I had life in my pod. Woot!!

If my cockscomb grow well, I will definitely be ordering more plant cartridges. I love that this combines my obsession with technology with my want to grow things. I also really like the speed with which I received my order on Nov 2nd and it delivered on Nov 8th. They were also really good with order and shipment confirmation. I appreciate speed, accuarcy, and being kept in the know.

Keep your fingers crossed that my batteries don't die and that I don't get a rogue snail that kill my sprouts.

Three Years Ago Today

#30DaysHathNovember

I have to stop and figure out what that year is. November 11, 2009. I looked back through old blog posts to see what I was up to and luckily, I posted pretty regularly and I can tell you exactly what I was doing on this day three years ago:  vacationing at the Outer Banks. It was our last OBX vacation before we moved back to California. It was also when Nor'Ida rolled through which was pretty memorable.

I love California, in particular, San Diego. It's home as no place has been for many years. But, North Carolina's beaches are beautiful, especially at the Outer Banks and I miss vacationing at the OBX. San Diego's beaches are beautiful too, but in a more dramatic way with its cliffs and bluffs and huge waves. North Carolina's beaches are serene and warm and more welcoming in my opinion.

Ugh. This post has made me depressed. I miss having an annual vacation!!!

A Favorite Recipe

First off, Happy 237th Birthday to the US Marine Corps and to all Marines, past and present, who have served their country with dignity and honor.

Now, I have a LOT of favorite recipes. I share them on Pinterest, this blog, and Facebook from time to time. In honor of the fact that fall has finally arrived to San Diego (it's rained off and on the past couple days with temps only in the 60s) I'm going to share a recipe from Cooking Light that always gets play at my house during the colder months. It's from their January 2006 issue which means we've been having this for almost seven years now. In fact, we're going to be having it sometime in the next week. It takes a little prep time since you have to make the sausage yourself, but with using ground pork and ground turkey, it's super lean, very tasty, and worth the extra effort.

Ingredients

Sausage:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Dash of kosher salt
• 3/4 pound lean ground pork
• 3/4 pound ground turkey breast

Chili:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups diced onion (about 2 medium)
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced
• 4 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
• 3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided
• 3 cups water
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans no salt-added diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup very finely chopped cilantro, divided
• Low-fat sour cream (optional)
• Sliced green onions (optional)

Preparation

To prepare sausage, combine first 12 ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
To prepare chili, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sausage mixture; cook 7 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add onion, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 tablespoon garlic, 2 teaspoons oregano, and chiles; cook 4 minutes or until onion is tender. Place 1 1/2 cups black beans and 1 cup broth in a food processor; process until smooth. Add puréed beans, remaining beans, remaining 2 cups broth, water, and tomatoes to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, 45 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in juice and cilantro. Ladle about 1 3/4 cups chili into each of 6 bowls. Garnish each serving with sour cream and sliced green onions, if desired.

A Song for the Day

#30DaysHathNovember


Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men




Flapper Girl by The Lumineers

A Book I'm Reading

#30DaysHathNovember

I recently discovered author, Rick Riordan. He's responsible for writing the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series which I'm sure a lot of people have heard about since the first book, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was made into a movie. I started out reading the first book in Riordan's series Heroes of Olympus. I knew about the Percy Jackson series but I thought they were separate series and they are, to a point. A lot of the same characters from the first series make appearances or are mentioned in the second as are some events. So, my OCD couldn't stand it and I had to read the first book of the Olympians series and I've set aside the Heroes series until I'm finished. Blah blah. Anyway, they're great books. The Greek and Roman mythology in them are fabulous. Riordan's fantasy world is well-developed if a little Harry Potter'ish. I'm finding that I like the Olympians series better because they are told in the first person from Percy's point of view. The first book in the Heroes series is told in the third person from three different character's points of view. There was a lot of internal dialogue and thought and not enough actual character interaction in my opinion.

Something I really like about Riordan's heroes is that most, if not all, have ADHD, dyslexia, or both. As it's explained, the kids have ADHD because they aren't challenged enough by the human world and they have dyslexia because they inherit the ability to read ancient Greek which makes it hard for them to read regular English. I think that's just a great message to send to kids that have these issues: Don't let it hold you back and maybe these conditions are just a unique way in which you view the world around you. Heroes can have ADHD and dyslexia too.

I also like that though there is a certain amount of violence, what with the heroes having to go off on quests against monsters and so forth, it's totally on par with kids and young adults. Supernatural blood, in Riordan's world, is gold ichor. Some monster, when slain, turn into clay, others gold dust. It's things like that that make Riordan's world fantastical and exciting, but not so scary that tweens couldn't read and enjoy either series.

I have to say that I've really enjoyed setting aside some of the heavier reading I've been doing lately to enjoy more lighthearted and somewhat simpler books and just plain fun books.

My Home Town

#30DaysHathNovember

This is something that my family (The Mister and the kids) and I talk about a lot. Both of my kids were born in the same hospital as I was in Marion, Ohio. The Oldest only lived in Ohio for 26 months of her life and not all in one stretch. The Youngest child only lived in Ohio for four months of her life. I boogied outta there the very moment her pediatrician said it was okay for her to fly. Since leaving Ohio for the last time, they have lived in six different cities/towns. What should they consider their hometown to be? Do they even have one?

I never know how to answer this question for myself either. I lived in Marion until I was 12 then I moved in with my dad in Pleasant Hill where I finished junior high and graduated high school. It was somewhere between five and six years total. While I lived in Marion for a longer amount of time, I graduated high school while living in Pleasant Hill. I suppose I could consider both places to be my hometown because they both have equal importance in my formative years.

Even though I haven't lived in Ohio since 1999 and I have no intention of moving back, I still consider Ohio "home" for technical reasons. Well, for tax reasons. Once the Mister retires from the Marine Corps in five years, we will no longer be able to claim Ohio as our home of record. What then? We're like freaking nomads. Modern day gypsies for cripes sake.

A Friend I Adore

#30DaysHathNovember

I have several friends I adore and could never pick just one.

Jennifer S. here in California is my oldest friend. We started out as neighbors walking our kids to preschool and now we're raising our teens. And Jennifer started all over by having a baby a couple months ago, lol. She's the closest thing to family that I have here in California.

Dana in Virginia is a fellow recruiting duty survivor, mother of teens, and mother of a special needs child. Without her support, I wouldn't have made it through recruiting duty. Bottom line. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Vanessa in Japan is also a fellow recruiting duty survivor. Her sense of humor is out of this world. The Mister and I still laugh over the story of her taking a hammer to her husband's PlayStation and then throwing it down the stairs. She's also my blog's number one fan.

I have other friends through the years that are as equally special and important, but I'll stop here. I'm getting misty and nostalgic. I miss all of my friends who are scattered across the U.S. and beyond. I pick the very best people as friends.

Writing prompt from 30 Days Hath November.

Something I Never Leave the House Without

Writing prompt from 30 Days Hath November

Before I had a cell phone, the one thing I never left the house without was my purse. It usually has my driver's license, keys, check card, lip gloss, and gum in it. I say usually because when I'm shopping online, I will get my wallet out so I can have my check card and sometimes I forget to put it all back until I'm out shopping in the real world and realize I have no way to pay for stuff. Also, my kids like to snake my gum from time to time so I don't always have gum with me either. Lip gloss, on the other hand, I have no less than two different kinds/colors at all times.

Nowadays, I panic if I leave my cell phone at home. It must go with me everywhere. What if I get lost or have a flat tire or see a guy on a segway with his dog riding across the handlebars while I'm out? I need my phone to make emergency calls and to take pictures of unsuspecting people. My car also has an iPhone/pod cable so that I can listen to my tunes through my stereo. Who listens to CDs or the radio anymore?? Not me.