Wednesday, March 9, 2022

My blog post title today might seem a bit dramatic…

Let me explain…

I am piggybacking off of The Lazy Genius podcast and Modern Mrs. Darcy blog. Both of these ladies, Kendra and Anne, have taken this question from author Barbara Brown Taylor. They periodically update their audiences with answers to this question. Brown Taylor says that is the more positive side of the question, “What’s killing you right now?”, which people seem ready to answer at the drop of a hat; we as humans do really like to complain, no? This resonated with me each time I read or heard the responses and it prompted me to name my things that are saving me right now. Forgive me if I am a broken record, because I probably am in some of my responses. I do a version of this each Friday with Friday Favorites, but today I will go a bit deeper.

1. Meal Prep

I choose to take a bit of time on the weekend to make my life easier during the week. Last weekend I did a breakfast casserole and the weekend before I did breakfast burritos, boiled some eggs, and baked some potatoes, along with cooking up some cauliflower rice. I usually watch a show while I cook and I just really enjoy this time and consider it a gift to my future self – or my self of a few days later – ha! I use this throughout the week and I do vary what I prep each week.

In addition to that, I also make two-three lunches for myself and my work meal prep partner.

This week I made chicken sausage, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, and potatoes:

and turkey meatballs, fake pasta (made from hearts of palm), and broccoli.

I am a reflective person and when I reflect on this school year, one of the highlights will be our lunches. That may sound silly, but it really helped me to be healthier and to lose weight. I didn’t feel that I was sacrificing and it was nice to have someone to share in the lunch duty. We can’t easily order in or do anything but bring a lunch as teachers and we both say we have never eaten better.

So, this may be silly, but it really helped/is helping us through one of the hardest years of our teaching careers. I keep it pretty positive here on the blog, but teaching has gotten much harder and it was already crazy hard. Supporting young people during a pandemic is hard. The responsibilities placed in the hands of schools that trickle down to little ol’ me are overwhelming. The technology addiction is crazy. We have opened Pandora’s Box and I don’t think we can close it now. I could say more, but I won’t.

2. The hints of spring weather we have been having

Yeah, so it’s cold again this week, but the respite from the cold was good for me. Even though I knew it wasn’t really spring yet, it reminded me of what spring feels like and looks like. I love when the world comes to life again. Winter in a pandemic is even more depressing! So, why not move to a warmer climate? I love the four distinct-ish seasons and maybe I like to complain about winter like other old people – I don’t know. I do think the winter helps us to appreciate the spring and summer.

3. Boundaries between work and home life

I have gotten better about just not checking email after I arrive home and not checking it until I get to school the next morning. I mean…am I ever going to get good news via work email? Probably not! I am going to get a message about one.more.thing.I.need.to.do or an email from a student saying, “can I still make up this assignment?” and I can just tell them the next day in class or respond during my work hours. Please don’t think I don’t care, because I do. I am willing to work with kids up to an hour before school starts any day of the week or most days after school for as long as they need. But, we have got to create more of a work/life balance in this age of 24/7 availability.

I actually took work email off of my phone and can only access it by using my phone’s browser or getting out my laptop. I also got rid of Google Classroom on my phone and my school’s grading program app.

I am a much better teacher when I get the rest I need to be 100% the next day at school!

So… what’s saving you right now?

Amy

Tuesday, March 8 2022

In my opinion, it has never been easier to eat healthy at a restaurant! There are so many more healthy options today! I love going out to eat! Do you? These days, I am getting very little take out because I am cooking more at home. I know it looks like I go out a lot, but I really don’t. I am cooking most of my meals at home. When I do go out now, it feels like more of a treat. Also, I was pretty strict during the almost two years of Covid and didn’t eat out indoors very much at all.

So, here’s the deal with our current empty nest situation. Tom goes out to lunch every.single.workday with only a few exceptions. Every now and then his office will order food and every now and then he will come home for lunch, but it’s not that convenient to do so, so he rarely does. It used to really bother me that he ate lunch out every day – because of the expense and maybe I was a tad jealous? But, when I took the time to ask him why – finally – he said he just needs the mental break and the change of scenery from being in his office all day. That really helped me and now I just don’t think about it. He often brings leftovers home that I serve him for dinner another night! Ha! He is really good about stopping when he is full and he doesn’t like to waste food.

So, because Tom goes out to lunch every day, he is not that excited to go out to dinner – even on a Friday night. Plus, Friday nights are crazy around here at our restaurants and we are both tired and it’s just not that enjoyable. I think many restaurants are still struggling from Covid-related issues and many are short staffed. So, we go out on Saturday nights maybe two-three nights a month. I have found that a good compromise for me is that I have an almost weekly happy hour with a friend so that I feel like I got to go out. This is working for us right now in this season of life. And, when our kids come home, they want to eat home cooked food at home.

Here is my plan when I do go out to eat.

Like I mentioned, I try to only eat out on the weekends when I use up my extra WW Weeklies. I get 23 points a day and then an additional 28 to use as needed. I try to use those mostly on Saturdays. I can earn extra points for exercise, vegetables, and water, but I try not to add those on. If I do eat out on a weeknight or have a happy hour during the week, that’s ok – I just try to plan ahead with the rest of my day – or week.

-I plan ahead. If I know I am going out to dinner I try to keep my breakfast and lunch lighter and healthier.

-I always look up the menu online. This is a game changer. I try to always know what I am going to order before getting there. Pre-WW I was super indecisive when looking at menus, so this has been nice in that regard, too. I don’t overthink it anymore. You know when you arrive at a restaurant with friends and you want to visit with them right away but you also have to decide what to order? This method has helped with that.

-Breakfast or brunch can be an easy meal to eat out – eggs are always a great choice for me. I really have been enjoying the omelette with a salad on the side thing. I also love to try to re-create restaurant meals at home, so I started doing this sometimes for dinner.

My favorite farmer’s market skillet at one of my fave breakfast spots:

I do try not to “drink” too many calories so I get either a plain coffee or an Americano:

But, you know I do save some points for my cocktails! Ha! You may have peeped a mimosa or two in my photos above. I love a mimosa!

I recently met a friend for breakfast and did the bagel sandwich thing. The rest of my day was a salad and a veggie and lean protein dinner. So, I stayed within my daily range!

A Mexican omelette at a Mexican breakfast place:

I really have grown to love vegetable sushi:

I split things a lot! My friend and I split this chicken teriyaki bowl and I have since re-created it as much as I could at home!

It’s not always easy to figure out the points in restaurants, but the WW app is pretty cool and you can get pretty close.

I always get my salad dressings on the side because I cannot stand when they go crazy with dressing and I have always been that way. It ruins a salad.

And, ultimately I eat what I’m craving at a restaurant because I still want to live my life! I never want to be that overly fussy person at a restaurant either.

You can tell them not to bring bread so you aren’t tempted, but when you are with other people that would just be plain mean to do to them! I do eat bread when it’s worth it, like this bread:

I’ve had dreams about this bread… ahhhhh…I could live on bread and potatoes!

Anyway, what’s your best restaurant tip?

Amy

Monday, March 7, 2022

This post is coming to you late because of technical problems – again! Ugh!

Also, I slept in today because we had a three day weekend!

I started my weekend on Friday after school with a little happy hour here with Erica:

Then, I stopped and got our favorite mediterranean food and Blizzards. We had been waiting for Jack to return home from NYC to have this meal.

I also made a pan of brownies!

We are watching The Great on Hulu with them now – it is very R.

Saturday morning it felt like spring!

I did TJ’s and Target pretty early and it was wonderful!

I had the sun roof open!

I spent some time on my deck reading and it was just what I needed!

Breakfast on the deck, too:

For dinner, I made honey mustard salad with chicken:

and loaded potato rounds with ciabatta bread:

I did a variation for me:

Also, I made a healthy copycat shamrock shake! It was pretty good!

I went back out to read after dinner:

And, another breakfast on the deck on Sunday:

We went to the movies – all four of us – to see the new Batman.

Then, I made chicken teriyaki bowls and our college kids left to go back to campus.

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Amy

Friday, March 4, 2022

Well, I am trying to re-do this post as it didn’t save yesterday – oh well. So, it will be a bit shorter.

I am linking up with Friday Favorites here!

My first favorite is that Jack arrived back late Wednesday night from NYC and we still have a few more days left of the college kids home for spring break!

Do you use Flight Aware to track flights? It’s really cool!

Another fave this week was walking into my library and seeing this green display! I love color!

I am reading this:

with this on deck:

Did you celebrate Mardi Gras? I made Tom an old favorite that I have been making him for like 24 years – no joke. Emeril Lagasse’s couscous jambalaya with spoon bread was our meal. I actually used cauliflower rice for my portion and I may do that again. It was really good!

I tried another flavor of Bubly. I am using this in the afternoons to make myself think I’m having a cocktail – and it helps me reach my daily water goal.

I love Essie marshmallow!

I love my Thrive Causemetics mascara and using a primer with it is a game changer. I’m really happy with this very affordable Essence option.

And, I am new to the brow game, but I like to make sure I put some face lotion on each brow and let it set it a bit, then glide the NYX Fill and Fluff pencil over each brow, followed by the sponge at the other end. Then, I use the brow mascara. It lasts all day.

I can’t wait to wear my new accessories! Did you catch my Fashion Files yesterday here?

Actually, I did already wear the headband to school to mark the beginning of March!

What were your favorites this week? I hope you had many!

Cheers to the weekend,

Amy

Thursday, March 3, 2022

It is time to link up with Jill and Kellyann!

Today’s post is short and sweet and really just involves some fun things that I have found lately. Kellyann mentioned in her blog recently that February had been a big clothing spending month for her. I would agree that I get really excited about an upcoming season and seem to spend more in March and September in preparation for the spring/summer and fall/winter. How do I know this? I tracked every.single.clothing. purchase I made for maybe 3 years? It was so enlightening. I even went back at the end of the year and analyzed what my best purchases were. I looked at what didn’t get worn. I really think I learned a lot from doing that.

I popped in to Clothes Mentor as I do from time to time and saw these Sorel sandals in my size. They are a very light blush color. Also, if you are on the short side like me, cut your too long jeans, wash and dry them, and you are on trend.

They have kind of a lug sole on the heel. I brought these home for $17. I couldn’t find them online when I got home, but their other dressier wedge sandals retail for $120ish! Score!

Next up are a couple of fun purchases that didn’t break the bank. I went in to Versona and brought home two headbands. I love the knot detail at the top and I like to headband it on my second day hair.

The first one is leopard Gucci inspired:

And, the second one is St. Paddy’s Day:

Have you tried a headband?

Ok, I admit that I have a problem. I bought alcoholic earring pair number five. I’m done. I think. I picked these up in a little boutique while I was gift shopping the other day.

I need somewhere to wear these for St. Patrick’s Day!

I have read a blog called MomAdvice for years and she did many a capsule wardrobe. I was always intrigued by this concept and she has a cute style. She recently sent out a newsletter and showed this $15 Walmart sweater and I promptly went to Walmart.com. I really like lemons. I did my deck in lemon decor last year.

I know we are at the end of sweater weather, but for $15, I couldn’t pass it up. I am pretty happy with the quality and feel of it. I haven’t styled it yet, but I plan to soon.

So…what have you bought for spring?

Amy

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

It’s time for another edition of Eating Lately; it’s been awhile! Feel free to check out other food posts here, here, and here.

This time I will basically be doing a photo dump of my meals from my iphone. You will see some repetition and I’m very obviously not a food stylist! My goal in doing these posts is to maybe give you some ideas. I know I love looking at others’ food photos so that I can do the same. I usually post my meals from my weekends, so you have probably seen some of these there, too.

Quick recap…I am doing WW Personal Points. My goal is to fill up on vegetables and lean proteins but allow myself to live life and enjoy treats from time to time. I try to get 30 grams of protein at each meal if I can. I have been kind of stalled lately, but I am staying consistent and trying to move more.

By the way, my sister has lost 30 pounds, my co-worker Erica has lost 25 pounds, and now my friend Victoria has lost 12 pounds all on WW. It really does work! I am so proud of these people and I can talk recipes with all of them, too!

I am really craving salads and I am so happy about it. I had really been gravitating toward cooked vegetables so this has been a nice change of pace for me.

I really don’t buy salad dressing anymore – I make a simple olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper dressing. Sometimes I smush some hard boiled egg and avocado to make it more creamy. I also make my family’s favorite homemade honey mustard and I eat that, too. I really don’t worry too much about these dressings because I use so little.

Baby arugula salad:

My Bizzy Kitchen’s skinny pizza dough recipe. You can also make bagels and breadsticks and a whole bunch of other stuff with this amazing dough.

Burrito Bowl – with homemade corn tortilla chips from the air fryer that I made out of corn tortillas.

Breakfast burritos on low carb tortillas. My favorite brand is La Banderita.

Restaurant salad:

I have a post coming up about how I have been ordering in restaurants.

Spanish omelette wth baby arugula salad with radishes. I have a new radish love and I really enjoy using my new mandolin slicer. But, I did slice my thumb. This was arugula, radish, and thumb skin salad. Just kidding!

More skinny pizza! I make a garlic butter from the spray butter and a few dashes of garlic powder – akin to the Papa John’s garlic butter.

Taco Bell Mexican Pizza by me:

Lasagna soup for a school lunch made by Erica:

Amy’s Salad:

Greek bowl with lots of tzatziki this time:

Terikyaki chicken bowl with cauliflower rice and broccoli: I had some corn so I had that on the side.

Another salad but on my patio so even better:

I want to make Mix and Match Mama’s buffalo chicken salad soon:

And, I want to make Natalie’s turkey sub bowls:

In addition to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I have two cups of coffee in the morning, a half of a Premier or Fairlife protein shake with iced coffee, and lots and lots of water and sparkling seltzer water. My snacks are string cheese, avocado toast, popcorn, and dum dum suckers usually.

What have you been eating lately?

Amy

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Happy March 1st and Happy Mardi Gras! Today is the popular link up with Tanya where we share the month’s Amazon purchases.

Spoiler: I can’t believe how little I bought. But, don’t pat me on the back because I bought things from other places this month!

I shared these on Friday, but I am really loving my new hoops! They are super lightweight – I don’t wear heavy earrings. They look like they cost a lot more than they did!

I am also really loving my new frother. It sits in a little stand, too!

This was January, but I want to share it again as you might be buying for spring. This top is a nice quality and it’s like an elevated t-shirt.

I am seriously thinking about getting a couple more colors.

I can’t wait to see what you’ve bought!

Amy

Monday, February 28, 2022

It’s the last day of February, y’all! Tomorrow is March 1st! Tomorrow is also Mardi Gras! Daylight Savings Time starts March 12th! Is winter over? I thought we would have one more weather event here in Kentucky, but now…I’m not so sure. Our temps are supposed to be 50s and 60s this week!

It is time to link up with Sarah for Hello Monday while Holly is on vacation.

Basically, I am going to show you lots of food photos and a few things I bought this weekend. It’s riveting content – I’m sure.

Friday was the start of Spring Break for my college kids. Crazy early, right? But, I think it is based on the fact that it is exactly half way through second semester. They had midterms last week. Jack was supposed to leave at 4:30 a.m. for a college music department trip to NYC, but it was delayed due to a winter weather advisory there. He ended up leaving about 13 hours late and lost a whole day, sadly. But that’s ok. He returns Wednesday night and then will still have some time at home before Spring Break ends.

Mason came home Friday afternoon and we got coffee from Heine Brothers – a local place. He also got sweatpants that say Heine on the backside. Ha!

Then, he and I had skinny pizza and Tom had a Totino’s frozen pizza for dinner. Tom doesn’t like the skinny dough and he is crazy! It’s so good!

Then, Mason left to go to a party.

Saturday morning I was up and at ’em and made my cold brew with foam and it was amazing! I then added my Premier Protein.

I made my typical weekend veggie scramble.

Then, I was on a mission. I had seen an Aldi ad for this stool.

I wanted it for my plants! I also saw and bought two candles –

this cute cloche candle:

and this stoneware:

I did not get this one, but there were some pretty designs.

There is no way I could exclusively food shop there but I was happy to get these goodies!

I had fun doing an old fashioned in person shopping trip and I also popped in to Meijer, DSW, and Versona while I was out. All that shopping made me tired and hungry, so…

I went home and made myself and Tom and Mason lunch. They had ham and swiss sliders, fries, and salad, and I had:

salad, baked potato, and Boca fake chicken patty sandwich.

Then, Mason and I went shopping for a birthday gift for his friend and he left to go to this friend’s birthday dinner.

I told Tom I needed some entertainment for Saturday evening and he said, “puppet show?”. If you know Tom, you can hear him saying this. I replied that I was thinking more along the lines of me taking a break from cooking/heating up/putting stuff on plates for people.

On second thought I would have really liked to have seen what kind of puppet show Tom was prepared to put on for me.

So, we decided to go to Cultured, the charcuterie place that is super cute.

Sangria!

Tom wanted ice cream after so we went to Comfy Cow (a local place) and I had a kid size scoop of salted caramel.

Mason came home around 10 and then we were both really tired and went to bed.

Sunday morning meal prep! Don’t pay attention to the loose change – I guess I got a tip.

Meanwhile, the only pictures I have gotten from Jack in NYC are these…

I am having trouble editing and cropping photos and WordPress has not been helpful. Sorry!

So, Jack has been to a jazz museum, the Met, Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre, and singing in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He has sent photos of pigeons. Welcome to the life of a teen boy mom.

Mason has been enjoying my cooking.

French Toast for breakfast:

So, that was a lot of food!

The weekend flew by and really, so did February. I can’t even believe it.

2022 has been hard. Winter, Covid/Omicron, flip flopping between in person and virtual school, masking, and now the news from Ukraine is…heartbreaking.

I hope you had a rejuvenating weekend and I hope that that state of the world improves.

Amy

Friday, February 25, 2022

It’s time to link up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favorites!

This will be rather short and sweet this week because the week simply flew by…

Here are my favorites:

I took down my Valentine’s Decor and moved some things around and here is my current mantel decor:

Coffee table decor:

I am loving the white and green minimalism.

I will put this flag out front this weekend:

I am on a breakfast burrito kick again this week. I could add some meat or salsa, but I am enjoying this basic version:

I use a low carb tortilla (this time it was whole wheat), an egg fried or scrambled, a tiny bit of shredded Mexican cheese, and a few pieces of diced potato. I heat in my classroom microwave for about 30 seconds. This is 2 WW points.

I am really loving sparkling water and I tried a new one this week. This tastes like suntan lotion – in a good way. I also put it in a glass with some Crystal Light lemonade powder and it tastes like a piña colada! Also, isn’t the can pretty?

We had a special visitor Monday at school. Elizabeth got a new puppy and her fiancé brought her during lunch.

We went out to eat during our teacher work day and felt like normal people who get more than 20 minutes to both eat and use the restroom! We did breakfast at lunchtime at a place called Con Huevos – kind of a Mexican/Cuban breakfast place.

I ordered an omelette:

These earrings look so much more expensive and are super lightweight. They were a Melanie Shankle/Big Boo Cast recommendation. I am really enjoying wearing them!

I am so grateful that I am finally craving salad! I have said many a time that I prefer cooked vegetables, but lately I am on a salad kick. Join me in hoping it sticks around for a while because I feel like I’ve gained some weight back. I haven’t weighed yet, but I just feel bloated lately and like I’ve lost some motivation. So, anyway, I have enjoyed a few salads with baby arugula. I love doing a light dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a bit of mashed up avocado. I also plan to do this with hard boiled egg instead of the avocado.

And, those are my favorites! What were yours this week?

If you missed any posts, here is my Hello Monday, here is my weekly Fashion Files – I have a new love of blazers!, and this week I also found and shared some St. Patrick’s Day ideas here and I talked about Decision Fatigue here. Hopefully there is a little something for everyone? Ha!

Wishing you a happy, happy Friday and a wonderfully relaxing weekend,

Amy

Thursday, February 24, 2022

I’m linking up with Kellyann and Jill today for Fashion Files!

Speaking of Kellyann, she has been talking about her blazers and looks so put together in them. But, I knew that her blazers wouldn’t work for me. I really wanted one, but I didn’t want a boxy cut or super structured shoulders. I didn’t really even want buttons. I wanted a stretchy comfortable fabric that wouldn’t wrinkle, too. Sounds like a tall order, right? And, why didn’t I want any of those things? I just didn’t think those would be flattering on me and I didn’t want to look like a linebacker.

Last Friday, Alli featured a light grey blazer from Walmart. I have been quite vocal that I am not a huge fan of Walmart. I have been burned many a time when I have shopped there. Plus, I don’t have one very close to my house. I have a Target very nearby and always leave happy. I always leave Walmart angry – maybe it’s just me. So, anyway, back to the blazer…it was a pretty high price point for Walmart and the brand was Scoop, which has intrigued me before.

You guys…the fabric is better than anything I could have dreamed up. They call it “scuba”. I don’t even know what to make of that, but this is really, really good. It has scrunched sleeves, which I also like. It seems like it would be very hard to wrinkle.

I wore it Monday for parent teacher confereces:

I wore it again yesterday for “favorite artist” day:

I ordered mine on Walmart.com and I couldn’t believe how speedy their shipping was.

And, a couple of days later, I ordered the hot pink! OMG! How cute for spring, right?

I hope it looks as good on me as it feels on me, but that’s probably not possible. I didn’t think the blazer trend would work for me.

Are you a blazer person? This would be a great way to try the trend if you are like me!

Amy