Okay, I just don't GET IT!

I find the cutest things that people have altered and they seem to think they are THE BOMB.  I don't get it.  I thought it would end after everyone painted and ugly old frame and put a chalkboard in the middle.  Yep, I did that too.  But now, pretty much, everything these days gets covered in chalkboard paint and swarms of crafters oooh and aaaah themselves into a frenzy.  WHY?

Am I seriously the ONLY person on the planet that simply can't stand chalk dust?  The feel of it sends shivers down my spine.  The smell of it gags.  The sight of it collected as dust on the floor or surrounding surfaces drives me crazy.  So someone tell me why is soooo stinking popular?

Cool ideas ruined by chalk dust:  (click photo for link)

See that line of dust on the floor!  UCK

Do you know how much kool aid and cookie batter I scrub off my backsplash a month?  Who wants to re-do their artwork everytime they clean the gunk off??

really?  I clean my fridge's fingerprint smudges a few times a week.  Wonder how peanut butter affects chalkboard paint?

Yes, please let me get chalk dust all over the sleeves of my shirt while we sit and talk at the table.  I'd just love that.

yes, more dusty sleeves as we play Scrabble or Monopoly.  I can't get enough sneezing in my life.

Wait, not just the table top - let's do the WHOLE ENCHILADA.  I've always wanted to write spelling words on table legs.  you?

In fact, I want my kid to sniff chalk dust all day long too.  Yes, cause that makes perfect sense so we both sneeze in unison.  I love my kid THAT much.

Are ya feeling my quandry?  I use the chalkboard markers at home, so I don't have to touch chalk.  Yep, I dislike it THAT much. I'm certain I must be alone in my thinking though.

Lots of love - have fun applying chalkboard paint as eyeshadow next week!
Abby

once a month cooking - kincaid style

So, if you're like me, you've dreamed of doing the OAMC thing.....I've printed plans and shopping lists....tried it a little with a 10lb pack of hamburger from Sam's....just never set aside the time to actually devote an 8 hr day to meal prep.  But, oh, how I dream of not having to cook for a WHOLE MONTH!

Well - tonight I got to do some OAMC.  Without a plan.  Without going shopping first.  And started at 6pm.  Just came home to find that the freezer had been unplugged a couple days, and three full cases of chicken breasts were thawing.  Quite thawed.  Couldn't be re-frozen thawed.  And we're talking a LOT of chicken.  60 lbs of chicken.  Holy cow, I knew I had to cook all of it at once, tonight, or we were going to lose it.

What would you do?

Well, I grabbed my 2 largest baking sheets and filled them up, seasoning one with a cajon dry rub, and the other with a teriyaki marinade from a bottle 1/2 used in my fridge.  I also filled my 2 largest pots with water and put about 20 breasts on to just boil, one plain, and the other flavored with Mexican tomate seasoning to prepare it a little for chicken enchiladas.  Oh, how plain boiled chicken is ugly!!  lol

My 2 big skillets were filled with breasts to cook in some EVOO, trying to get that pretty brown like Buddy Valastro does on Kitchen Boss (that I've seen every episode of I think!  lol).  I cooked 3 rounds like this, so 11 or 12 dinner's worth.  Hopefully reheat and get some naked tenders out of it, add some sauces for another flavor, and some real butter, crushed garlic and parmesan melted on top.  Oh, how I love that kind at Longhorn Steakhouse - and my knock off isn't bad either.

When the timer went off on the oven, I had another roasting pan full of chicken and another smaller pyrex ready to go with bottled bbq sauce.  Trying to change it up so we have some variety to this mess!

Grab out my 2 crock pots - the large one filled with breasts and a bottle of some Lawry's marinade I had on the pantry shelf.  Even steamed some plain chicken in my Wolfgang Puck Rice Cooker.  I just couldn't stand the thought of being up all night long cooking, nor could I fathom throwing some of this out.

And then I got Brad working the grill.  He grilled 2 bags of chicken....then had to go to the movies to see Transformers for a special Buena Vista/Disney check tonight.  Hmmm, was that REALLY NECESSARY?  Guess I'll take his word for it......but I'm suspicious!

Boy, my kitchen must have been 100 degrees!  I was a "glistening" mess.  I cranked the rest of the house down to 65 degrees so I could come out and cool off - Eris had on flannel pajamas at 9pm!  lol

It's was 5 hours of straight cooking chicken - every way I could imagine and fit in my small kitchen.  Lots and lots of plain baked or plain boiled, which I'm shredding to use in chicken tacos, chicken salads, soup, chicken & dumplings, white chile, casseroles and who knows what else.  There are TONS of dishes to wash....ALL the big things that I own in fact.  I hope my dishwasher doesn't decide to go on the fritz tonight!  lol  Wouldn't THAT just be the icing on the cake!

p.s.  After all was bagged, labeled, and in the freezer - I had  29 meals ready to go.  Well, the protein part anyway...

Gardening, do you do it? And WHY?

This morning I watched the documentary Food, Inc.  I'm so angry!  I feel like I've been lied to for so many years, by so many companies.  I don't like being duped.  But I know I'm not giving them any more of my money.  And I know my family deserves better.  And I know farmers deserve better. AND I know workers deserve better.

Then, I watched FoodMatters documentary.  Wow.  Seriously, we've GOT to stop being sheep and being fed (literally - on our table and out of our prescription bottles) whatever the drug companies will give us for every ailment we get.....and start working on preventing the diseases!  My Mom has taken supplements before, had me listen to Dead Doctor's Don't Lie tapes years ago (you can probably google and download an mp3 file for free), and for some reason it never sunk in.  At least, it didn't last.  Maybe I was just too young to listen?  Well, I'm 37 years old, and I'm changing my life.  And I'm changing the life of my family and hopefully teaching them to make better choices.



A couple of weeks ago, I decided to put in a garden for my family, simply because the price of food is probably going up with the world's disasters that have been happening.  I keep looking at vertical gardening as a solution for not having to weed so much!  (weeds have taken over any attempt at a garden every time I've ever tried!!)   Now I stand behind that decision for different reasons as well.  I was feeling pretty lazy because I hadn't gotten anything planted yet (lettuce) but with the call for SNOW this weekend (can you even BELIEVE that???), I'm feeling pretty smart!  lol


Anyway, both of those movies are on Netflix - if you subscribe, then look them up!

Sunday facials

Eris was sooo happy this past Sunday when I let her pull out the mint/cucumber mask stuff I had bought at Target while back for when we'd have a "girls night" at my house and do facials. She was very careful about putting it on ALL our faces and not our clothes or hair or earrings.....yep, Ehren included. He was NOT going to be left out of the fun!

Of course, I had to chase them thru the house all monster-like....couldn't miss out on THAT fun!

Good Times!