Sqashy in body, squashy in mind, one woman attemts to shape up, firm up, and not loose her marbles in the process.
Things I will not do in the interest of saving money, ever:
Line dry underwear.
Shop at Walmart. (shudder!)
Cancel my Netflix subscription.
Drink cheap coffee.
Wear underwear that comes in a plastic package.
Stop buying 120 format film.
Agonize over clipping coupons.
Attempt to sew my own bras.
Get rid of high-speed internet.
Skip girls-only monthly hibatchi.
Buy the inexpensive contact solution.
We’ve stopped eating out as much because it’s expensive and unhealthful.
We’re currently buying my grandmother’s house as an investment property (because my husband loves me and I wanted it for sentimental reasons!) It is priced at less than half of what we were planning to spend in New York City back when we were looking to buy there, and I’m excited to have it as a future home; it’s on 1.5 acers, so there’s definetly potential for expansion (and chickens, I’m thinking! I’m following a convo. about chickens on a message board, and I’m enthralled and inspired to have my own brood of egg-givers. But I wouldn’t eat them. *shudder* Anyway.)
So we’re saving money by not eating out because we want to buy the place in cash, forgoing all the headache of obtaining a mortgage. (Which I looked into, and which scared me.) Also, restaurant food is not so good for the de-squashying. But I would like to be able to go out sometimes and not just order salads. I’m trying to figure out where to go tonight (the husband is going to be away for two days… we haven’t slept apart since we got married! The dogs are SO getting to sleep on the bed!) so that I can order something vegetarian and more hearty than salad.
Normally when we get Chinese they give us a TON of rice that I never know what to do with. I keep it, and in the next day or so I mix it with kidney beans, salsa (or diced tomatoes), diced bell peppers, grated cheese and squished corn chips. It’s pretty good, and healthful if you really load it up with veggies and use blue corn chips, which I prefer to yellow. (p.s., it’s way fun to squish the chips!) Then I broil it so the cheese melts and the rice gets hot and I have an awesome faux-Mexican dish. I made that tonight with gazpacho soup, and it was so, so good after a long hot day.
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The husband is currently playing guitar, and the dogs are at his feet, looking up at him so interested and adoringly, like they’re really INTO his tunes (Weezer and Green Day… he’s so 90’s), like they’re really listening and enjoying. It’s adorable. I love my life.
Right. Blogging. So.
I tried a new cleanse that eliminated the following: animal products, alcohol, gluten and refined sugar. I made it for four days, which I counted an accomplishment. I have since stopped eating meat, and cut back on the gluten and sugar. I’m not a big drinker, so it wasn’t so much of an issue either way.
I feel amazing! I’ve been debating the merits of going vegetarian for years, and making the leap has be a LOT easier than I thought. There are still going to things that bring me to the brink of temptation: my girlfriend’s lambchops, Hooters wings, juicy cheeseburgers, but I feel like I’m doing the best thing for myself right now, and if I do eat meat occasionally, well, no big deal.
I’ve been trying to work out more (because I might as well, right? While I’m eating so well.) The fact that it’s summer is making that easy; my three dogs are mad for the dog park, and there’s one twenty minutes away that has a great swimming lake (plus there are lots of other dogs to play around with). We’ve been hiking all over, and it’s been good for them, too.
We also got a Wii Fit. I’m not using it to work out so much as track my progress. According to it, I’m down eight pounds in the past month. Woo! Skinnay!
I was out last night with a few girlfriends, both who are super cute and sweet. My friend S. has one of those bodies that is naturally thin and muscular, and she has to be careful not to dip underweight. Her abs are INCREDIBLE. Unfortunately for her, she’s at her “confused with life” phase where she wants so much out of life and is not sure (but really, “too scared”) at how to go about achieving it. Girl’s got “issues” if you know what I’m saying, and the conversation turned to how I seem to have it together; I have an amazing marriage and (despite being a bit of a dissatisfied housewife), I’m pretty happy. So is our other friend, C.
“Whatever!” she said. “You know you’d both kill for my body!”
I eyeballed her. “No. Nope. I wouldn’t.” To be honest, I was a little annoyed that she thought she was better looking than me (I mean, she IS fitter, but you don’t SAY such things! Goodness!) And my snappy “No.” was out as my gut reaction before I realized that it IS actually true: I don’t want her body, killer abs or not.
“I mean, of course there are things I want to change, but” I continued, “I feel pretty good.” I suppressed my smug smile. I was going to add: “and I get to have sex.” but I thought that her head might explode; she’s got no suitable husband on the horizion and is frustrated, and I’m not an ENTIRELY mean person, you know. But I thought it.
Oh dear. It’s happened. I’m overwhelmed.
I’ve been a stay-at-home-wife for eight months now, and I’ve hit a strange point of being “over it”. I never thought you could actually be “over” staying home all the time, but it’s a lot of pressure, especially in the environment I’m in. Here in the the Northeast, and in the family I married into, it’s not very common for wives to not work, especially if they don’t have children. A few of my husband’s family members have raised their eyebrows at me, even though he’s made it very clear it’s not a topic up for discussion. I’ve always been one to disregard what other people are concerned about easily, but the snide comments and odd looks are getting to me.
I’m not staying home because of a religious conviction, or because I’m lazy. I’m staying home because I don’t know what to do if I were to get a job. I’m not about to go flipping burgers when my husband makes six figures a year, and I’m not going to go back to college just for the sake of going.
I keep trying to figure out what to do. I know some things that interest me, but I’m not sure how to parlay those into a job that lets me work and still maintain our lives here at home. Even with no kiddos to worry about, keeping up with his long work schedule, the stock portfolio, the cooking, cleaning, laundry, paying bills, arranging dinner parties, keeping up with family and making sure our lives are in order and on track is a pretty demanding gig!
I’m hoping that moving to an area with more creative people will enhance my opportunities, but right now I’m in the middle of suburbia, stuck in a bit of a rut.
Because I was tagged 
I:
don’t wear denim, like This American Life, think I look better with nappy hair, never make the bed, love the fact that I’m married to a guy with a beard, have three dogs (all mutts), and love video games more than I should.
I had a major panic attack when i realized that i had grabbed the “no boil” noodles to make my veggie lasagna. i’d never heard of such a thing, and i was 100% convinced that, should I use them without boiling, I would have dry, icky pieces of cardboard-like pasta between the (expensive, labor-intensive) layers of organic veggies and cheese that I had whipped up , my dinner party would be ruined, my guests would laugh, and we’d have to order pizza.
This lasagna recipe I found was NO JOKE. It called for pepper, pesto, tomatoes, broccoli, and carrots, ricotta, mozzarella, noodles of course, and a host of spices. I also had to make a milk+butter+flour+garlic sauce to top it, and I had to be careful not to burn it.
The entire thing weighed about 30 pounds (possibly due to my FABULOUS lasagna pan that my mother in law bought me. It’s an Emile Henry, in sunny yellow, and I love it. It’s from last year, when she was doing the scalloped edges on her pans, instead of the plain she’s doing this year.)
Anyway, as I layered the hard noodles I prayed that they would soften up. (I literally prayed, too. If His eye is on the sparrow, surely He cares about my lasagna, too, right?) I was using the frozen broccoli that the recipe called for, and those have tons of water by way of ice crystals, so I was pretty sure that I had enough moisture… and I did. I did not, however, have enough mozzarella. I was supposed to have one layer of 1 cup of shredded mozz. somewhere in the noodles, and another 2 cups on top. I only had two total, so my top was a little lacking, but you wouldn’t know that by looking or tasting. I also skipped the added salt (the pesto I bought seemed to have a lot in there already… i didn’t make my own pesto!) and used two green peppers instead of one red and one green (I could only find organic green peppers; the reds at the grocery store were not, and I wasn’t going to drive all over in search of one organic red pepper. Because, come on.)
Another mod. I made was that I ground my veggies up when the recipe said to “chop”. I don’t like veggie chunks galore, so the broccoli and tomatoes were chunky, and everything else was mushy-mashy veggies. I’ll bet kiddos will like it better that way.
So, the no-bake noodles? They rocked! I checked it when it was supposed to be “done” by stabbing it with a steak knife, and met a little resistance. I left it in the turned-off-but-still-hot oven and let it stew a bit more. When I pulled it out it was perfect, and everyone liked it! I have a new favorite dish to make… but not too often! That was a lot of work.
We’re moving and this means open houses to sell our current house. I never thought too much to the level of cleanliness. It’s never, ever perfectly clean, but it’s not so bad, and I’ve gotten a lot better at keeping it neat since I’ve stopped working and been a full-time housewife. Still, the knowledge that folks are coming over makes me look at the place in a whole other light, and I’m seeing dust bunnies, falling stacks of paper, and crumbs. We did a massive cleanup and took care of all those things “we’ve been meaning to do”, and I’m thrilled. I wish I had done it a long time ago: halls in the walls are fixed, bad paint jobs have been smoothed over, and “clusters of crap” have been reorganized in cute baskets. I kind of wish we did it for us, not for selling, but I’ve learned a valuable lesson. In my next house, I’m not going to “let things go”.
I’ve purchased pomegranate juice, cranberry juice and apple juice to mix with the seltzer, wildberry seltzer and tea I just bought. I’m looking forward to trying out good, less sugary alternatives to soda.
The warmer weather has been a call for long walks, and the dogs are all very happy, as am I. Of course, it’s New England, so I’m fully expecting the weather to take a turn for the worse… oh… tomorrow! But for now, we’re tearing up the woods on monster-sized hikes, and it’s been beneficial to my “flab-ay boo-tay”!
I’m having food issues again. Everything is mega delicious, and I keep EATING. I’m bottomless! This is pretty new, and I’m not appreciating. Maybe it’s because I’ve been so much more active with the hikes?
My Sigg bottle arrived, and it’s been helpful in keeping me hydrated. I highly recommend them. Check out mysigg.com if you’d like one. They’re $20 more or less, and better than Nalgenes which are made from plastic that will leech into your drink.
