Holiday Zoolights

A few pictures from last night's Holiday Zoolights for you all to enjoy! Definitely not something I'll need to go to each year, but was a great experience overall. It's so incredible to see what people can come up with and it was GREAT to spend some much needed quality time with my brother and sister-in-law!

A Standard Saturday

A run in the morning, followed by some time in the yard raking up more leaves and putting the final raised bed to "rest."

 The chickens are well-guarded when they're out pecking around.

 If you look very closely up at the top of this picture, you can see the first bunch of geese heading south for the winter.

And the morning of physical work, followed by a meal of my mixed squash stew made yesterday, and then a couple hours of prep work.....and a nap time for Major (you can tell he's male based on his desire to lay right next to the remotes.....). ;)

This evening I'm joining my brother and sister-in-law for dinner and then to see the Zoo Lights---so stoked! I've been looking into going since I heard it advertised on the radio a few weeks ago---here's hoping it's as grand as I imagine! :)

Hope you all are having a wonderful productive, yet fulfilling Saturday yourselves!

A Simple, Lovely Friday

Whew! What a day! I stayed up last night getting lists made for this weekend and finishing prep work for one of my courses. Once finally in bed, I just couldn't fall asleep. Thus at 7am, I fed and let the dogs out, then crawled back in for some more shut eye. Next thing I knew it was 10:20 and Roxi was barking outside---she must have known I wanted to see if the Freddie's sock sale was really something to talk about.....Somehow I still made it cutely dressed, face-on, and checked out of Freddies with wool socks (at $4 a pair) and a Christmas candle (for $5) by 11:05am. 

On the way home I stopped at the local feed store to buy a 25lb bag of chicken feed and yummy chicken "scratch" for them. The ladies sure clucked in approval as I filled up their feeder and spread some scratch on the floor of their home!

After brewing up morning espresso, I thought about getting started on some work, but instead took care of a few financial to-dos and then pulled down our crock pot recipe books as I have been wanting to make a pot of soup for weeks. I started out with the intent to make some veggie chili based off a recipe I'd made before, but once I chopped and added half an onion, some celery, carrots, and sweet potato to my chicken broth.....I just kept chopping and peeling through half the squashes I'd used as fall decorations.......threw in some dry white beans and added a variety of good smelling spices from the cupboard....I'm calling it mixed squash soup and it's been simmering in the crock for a few hours now---yum!

The rest of those squash halves got chopped in larger chunks and thrown with some baby carrots, chopped turnips, rosemary, olive oil, garlic salt, and ground peper into a greased pan. I slid the mixture into the fridge til I got home this evening and then I roasted them in the oven at 375 for about an hour---delish dinner!

The chickens gladly gobbled up some of the squash peelings and the rest got added to the compost, as well as one of the bags of shavings and chicken droppings. Next the box of old bras to donate to The Bra Recyclers finally got wrapped and then mailed.  And I picked up one of my cousins to go check out boots at Penney's and to chat for a bit. From there I decided to look for a wreath and some other Christmas decor---and I came home with two poinsettas and hung a wreath on the front of our house.

This evening hub texted to say they didn't see any sign of elk today, but hopefully he's having a good hunting trip with his buddy all the same. I've missed having him around and will look forward to us putting up our tree and adding our LED Christmas lights to some part of house once he's returned. Two pairs of boots ordered from Penney's online (my suede boots that I already own are not going to survive all this rain---time for slick leather boots since we're not in Louisiana anymore), and I've vegged out to a DVR'd episode of What Not to Wear (with a great explanation of the concept of CPU--Cost Per Usage! :)).

Now it's time to shower, make some tea, and do some lecture prep/other work for the rest of the evening! Unless of course a few of those magazines from the stack call my name---sometimes I enjoy too much a simple day of rest.

Hope you all had a wonderful Friday too!

Fill In the Blank Friday

Today I'm linking up again with fellow Portlander Lauren over at The Little Things We Do for her Fill-In-The-Blank-Friday.

1. Waking up at the break of dawn to go shopping is a) not worth it b) a continual demonstration of our nation's overconsumption and c) something I try to avoid .

2. If I were to go shopping today I would be on the hunt for groceries, warm socks, a zip-close work appropriate tote bag, and non-suede knee high boots.

3. The best thing I ate yesterday was Granny's sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, and my cousin's pumpkin roll.

4. Something I've been learning lately is that following one's passion is amazingly fulfilling and sometimes other distractions need to be recognized and released....

5. I cannot start my day without coffee, clothes, and my face put-on .

6. My nighttime attire consists of a cami w/ built-in bra and leggings currently....and sometimes thick socks and a thin sweatshirt.

7. I am looking forward to a) Decorating for Christmas and b) the end of one of two chapters, while still hoping that finances and life will play out how it should, all the while hoping for and exploring new opportunities.
 
A few other blog posts and online links that I loved within the last two weeks:
1) I have the perfect acorn squash to test this Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe on from A Couple Cook's.
2) I've recently fallen in love with SortaCrunchy again, and loved her post on The Carefully Curated Closet.
3) Hub saw and shared Are You Totally Improbable or Totally Inevitable from NPR, which I then shared with my Stress class this last week to encourage them to realize how each one of them is incredibly special and here for a real purpose.
4) Care about What's In Your Make-Up Bag?! Take a look at the newest evidence presented by Oregon Environmental Council.
5) Read about the push to pass the Safe Chemicals Act.
 
ENJOY!

Thanksgiving in Pictures

 This year I made cranberry sauce using a recipe from one of my best high school gals---it turned out fab and will definitely be contributed again.

 Hub was kind enough to hook up our DVD player last evening so I also got to huddle down under my new super soft & comfy winter blanket and watch one of my favorite Christmas movies: The Family Stone. While hub and I are unsure if we'll have kids, this movie always makes me wish for a big house of crazy functional dysfunction someday!

 Hub contributed pumpkin cheesecakes and a deep-fried turkey. In this photo he's prepping the turkey and the dogs are oh so hopeful that he'll accidently drop it on the floor!

 Hub's joke this morning was whether or not it'd be cruel to take the turkey out to show the chickens.....

 One of the three beautiful tables decorated at my aunts. Always a wonderful time together with immediate and extended family! Life has been so crazy that I haven't even seen much of my aunts/cousins that live less than a mile away, so it was so great to have time to catch up with many of the family.

And I also got to spend some focused time with one of my nephews---don't get to see them as frequently as I'd like....and most the time I love my job as "aunt." :)

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and it always passes so quick! Here's hoping each of you had a wonderful holiday surrounded by family, friends, gratitude, and lots of love!!

Some Moments & Things of Late

I absolutely adore my comfy sweater dresses and a pair of knee-high boots. Sweater dresses are so easy to throw on allowing me steal a few extra minutes of shut eye in the morning AND they seriously feel like I'm wearing pjs to work!

Our high school football team was up here playing last weekend. CHILLY game, but it was a lot of fun watching them play and sitting with some of our hometown friends closer to our own turf. They lost in the last 6 seconds of the play off game which was a bummer, but it was a great experience over all. I even agreed to snuggle down to an additional evening of watching football with hub over the weekend---I'm pretty sure he marked the day on the calendar.

The chickies are incredibly gorgeous ladies--they never really had an awkward ugly stage and instead developed straight into the beautiful feather pattern that currently bear. They also have a beautiful "coo" and a pretty funny warbling noise that sounds a little like a turkey! :)

Poor lil Roxi had her annual shots on Saturday. We took her to Luv My Pet at Petco just like we did with Anna this summer and it went great. Roxi has a tendency to get a tough gal complex when she's on leash, but she actually behaved really well. Looks like she has a bad tooth though that we'll probably have to have extracted soon....

Hub spent an afternoon raking up the entire backyard of leaves.....we woke up the next day to what you see in the above picture covering the back corner of the yard. I'm pretty sure the cherry tree was laughing at him....

Other things of late:

Hub has developed a new found passion for all things flavored pumpkin----we officially have local Umpqua pumpkin pie ice cream in the freezer and then pumpkin spice creamer in the fridge.

I let the cat out of the bag to my gal Heather, but if you're looking for cute cardigans for this fall or as a layering piece anytime of year....look no farther than Target. I have historically had a love affair with the cardigan (which hub despises) and Target has been one of my go-to resources for years. They run large though, so buy smaller.

Hub and I made a Costco run yesterday, which we continue to love. This run was primarily for juice and dog food (although we will probably be switching to large 50 pound bags of "farm dog feed" from our local feed store, as we like the idea of supporting small business and the bag here is paper aka recyclable), but I also snagged the coziest, softest blanket to curl up in during this cold winter......and I finally purchased organic chicken stock so I can hopefully get on to soup and/or chili making....although I've been having hankerings for homemade mac & cheese lately too. You read that right...I actually am wanting to make something again!

I just agreed to switch my teaching schedule slightly in the spring, which gives me one additional credit but also will include lecturing for four straight hours. I'm excited at the idea of moving my twice a week class to once a week, but will be interested to see how that format works for the subject. I'm really enjoying teaching however....

I've been throwing around the idea of studying to become a massage therapist, although I can't decide if I am intrigued for real reasons or if I'm just ready for a completely new direction and challenge. It's a lot of money and a decent amount of time for a potential whim.....must investigate more indepth where these thoughts are coming from, but so far the pros are that it's also part-time, potentially flexible, involves touch & healing, and further connects to my interests in health care.

What have each of you been up to or thinking about lately?!



Recent Confessions

I'm inspired to write another Confessional post by the recent similar post on SortaCrunchy and because I actually had a thought about this earlier this evening because........

1) Jade plants are supposed to be impossible to kill.....I am in the process of successfully killing my FOURTH jade plant. I bring other plants back from the dead....but the jade plant hates me.

2) Learning about personality styles via teaching my stress managment course has made me realize that I am much more co-dependent on the opinions of others than I'd usually care to admit....but then so are an estimated 96% of Americans.

3) I tend to be a Facebook snob---primarily because I like to have the freedom to post what I want to say, especially regarding environmental toxins and exposures.

4) I am realizing how much I miss AND love the field of public health, especially regarding environmental toxins & human health effects.

5) I'm afraid I'm too lazy and impatient to be a very good mom. My many fears on this topic make me incredibly apprehensive.

6) Christmas has been my carrot to journey along throughout this term---it's oh.so.close.

7) I was born and raised Presbyterian---which means I believe in social justice, love, stewardship, and sustainability.

8) I knew marriage would be hard....but some days are way harder than I ever imagined possible.

9) I vote by three key platform topics: health care, environment, and immigration. Whichever candidate best matches my view points on these topics, wins my vote. Makes it easy.

10) I keep my mouth shut on my personal view points every single day that I work in one of my two part-time jobs.

11) I am secretly glad for DVR due to the constant access I have to watch What Not to Wear.

12) I feel guilty of how much I've begun to use TV as a means to zone out in my off hours. Nothing satisfies lately like that cup of peppermint flavored coffee and Dear Genevieve on HGTV.

13) I'm currently in a weird period of transition and I'm not sure that I like what I see physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, or socially. Most the time I'm too busy to think much about it though....

14) In the winter I have a complete addiction to peppermint---its equal to the summer addiction of coconut.

15) I'm guilty of keeping my chickens much more cooped than I care to reflect upon or admit. While the large dog kennel is large....I wish there was more energy and day light to let them free range more often.

16) This term is the first one where I really feel comfortable teaching again and feel free to be myself as an instructor. Although my students just formally evaluated me, so we'll see what the feedback provides!

17) I hate grocery shopping.....but I love that hub loves to grocery shop and for us to go together. Although I hate grocery shopping, I love that full fridge and availability of tasty options.

18) I have been a vegetarian for 16 years......and in the last six months I have fallen in love with salmon, had hankerings for BLTs, eaten a tuna sandwich, and had my first fish & chips. Again, not quite sure what is happening to me.....but one things for sure red meat is NOT coming back into the picture.

19) Winter time makes me love tea. Today alone I had blueberry and detox teas, and purchased two types of local brand Chai tea.

20) I CANNOT WAIT FOR IT TO SNOW! Usually here in the valley of Oregon we don't get too much snow BUT this year is supposed to be an even colder one than normal.

21) I miss knitting.

22) I'm still in decent contact with one of my major exes. I am someone who believes that exes can be friends and I enjoy a healthy catch up session with one in particular. I like to see people that I care about doing well, and its nice to chat with someone with whom one has so much life history.

23) I'm pretty sure if I could live with my parents forever....I would. Nothing is as relaxing and restoring as a trip to my mom and dad's. I have to wonder if that will be the case as I move toward 40 and Mom and Dad also get older....

24) I can't wait to tuck into the couch with a good book and the flickering lights of the Christmas tree. In fact, I've already been listening to Christmas music for a week---and yes, I know it's not Thanksgiving yet. :)

25) Sometimes there are things I'd like to blog about but I don't because a) I'm too afraid of offending family & friends who would take it personal and b) I'm afraid of a random stranger recognizing me from one of my jobs and having personal information on me.

which leads me to the last one:
26) I've been toying with the idea of journaling again, so I can truly convey my thoughts and clear my mind, heart, & soul of much of what weighs upon it. I lecture on the virtues of journaling and I journaled for years.....but sometimes I feel that the "dear diary"--ness of it gets under my skin.

Woosh. A few open confessions out into the universe. What are you confessing lately?

Cancelled Morning Meetings

Sometimes a cancelled morning meeting is a highlight to my week, and at least this time I was told ahead of time. Don't get me wrong, I'm really looking forward to the next time my supervisor and I can finally get together to connect about things....but I didn't mind sleeping in this morning, connecting with a few friends over Facebook posts, picking up the backyard, dancing with the dogs in the kitchen to Christmas songs on the radio, nor savoring my home-made peppermint latte while watching my new found HGTV love Dear Genevieve. Sometimes a lazy morning is fab-u-lous, even if that means I will now be spending this evening after I teach class, reviewing for the lecture I'll give tomorrow at noon and cramming in another meeting before class tomorrow.

So what's been up with us? Well a whole lot and a whole little. ;) Hub woke up yesterday morning at 2am with food poisoning (yea for eating left over bacon & cheese sandwiches from Safeway.....) so he spent most the day hanging out at home. We had made a trip to our hometown on the coast this weekend--the first time I'd been back since this summer and it was a nice change of scenery (literally too as the drive is always gorgeous). We took the trip so I could attend hub's best friend's baby shower and so hub could watch our high school football team's first play-off game. I spent the rest of the weekend hunkered down at Mom & Dad's and hub ran around with his buddies. But the trip itself was great for work, as I corrected about 75 assignments and 50 exams in 4 hours---woot, woot---maybe we should head south every weekend! Plus its always refreshing for me to spend a few days with my parents with their constant positive support, comfort, home cooked meals, and now their fuzzball of a new cat.

The last few weeks have been full of work, work, and more work for the most part. I'm looking forward to this next term when I hope to have a bit more routine schedule and I'll also be teaching one less class. I'm also beginning to think/plan for changes that will probably need to be happening work wise in the next year, as my part-time position will more than likely be transitioning and reposted as a full-time position. As much as I love it, I'm also starting to miss being able to really be present and true to my passion for public health. Many times in the last weeks, I've been put in the uncomfortable position of having to dodge questioning as to which job holds my true allegiance....but I'm also having to think about future job opportunities 5-10 years down the road.....and sometimes it can all contradict itself. Are you getting tired of always reading posts about my job(s) aka current life existence ;)

In other news, I'm incredibly looking forward to the holidays, when several close friends will be returning home to Oregon and there are additional plans to spend time with my siblings and their families, who I haven't been able to see as much as I had originally expected. Unfortunately though my eldest brother and his family won't be able to head out here from Colorado as they'd hoped, but it will still be great to see the other members of my family. I will still be arranging my schedule to work 20 hours a week, but I'm looking forward to a bit of admin time as well. I'm also wishing I already had a bit of savings as my host sister from Argentina is getting married in December and I would LOVE to be able to be there. I haven't been back to see any of my families & friends there since I left ten years ago, as plane tickets are over $1,000 round trip and as more time passes the desire to go and take hub only increases. Once we get there, the costs won't be that much, but those ticket prices always make me apprehensive!

A somewhat scattered post---again I've had multiple moments of things to post in the last few weeks, but the timing is always off. Speaking off, must get moving out of sweats and into work-appropriate gear. Time for afternoon meetings and teaching my evening class! Hope each of you has been enjoying a wonderful mid-November week (and that you remembered to thank a veteran last Friday!)..... Take Care!

Cheap Forks & Cinnabon Rolls

This morning I spent five minutes reflecting on cheap forks & cinnabon cinnamon rolls. (Yes, you can officially declare that I'm back to my analytical self!) Last night hub had a hankering for Cinnabon rolls, which we can get at our local Fred Meyer (sort of a one-stop PNW shopping). We went and bought a box of four, which also became our breakfast today. When I warmed mine in the microwave this morning to eat alongside my coffee, I knew that I wanted to eat it with our cheap, college-esque silverware....and here's why:
Remember being a poor college student when paying for a Cinnabon cinnamon roll was a luxury (and the splurge of the month) and the only silverware you had to eat it with was a plastic dorm fork or a cheap, Wal-mart fork variety in whatever locale you were currently living? Well every once in a while I feel it's important to remember those days....and to reflect on where life is now and how much I have become accustomed to the lifestyle we currently have. Sometimes its good to remind ourselves of what was...and to maybe reflect upon how the Cinnabon roll probably tasted a lot better back when it was a splurge......

Life continues to be busy.....and I'm tired.....and whining way more than I ever really want to be. This last week I lectured on stress-prone & stress-resistant personality types and ended by asking my students to reflect upon which type of personality they think I am. Ironically, they reported they think I'm Type B, which is laid back, creative, and a dreamer. Type B is where I strive to be and is why I love the idea of a life based on simplicity....but its not where I currently am. The irony is that I must be doing a good job of still allowing others to see me as being in a Type B state-of-being, which is better than the Type A that I'm quickly becoming again. Type A's are multi-taskers, time-oriented, highly stressed, easily frustrated and angered, rushed, among a host of other traits.

Type A personality means that I'm constantly juggling the different parts of my two jobs and never feeling that I'm able to give the animals enough attention, keep the house & yard picked up and organized, or ever feel completely rested. Type A makes me just want a break and increases my irritability. Both hub and I are realizing we're eating whatever we can easily grab these days and that's not exactly where we want to be. ......Knowing all this reminds me again of why I opted for the more relaxed lifestyle in the first place! :) There will be some changes with the two jobs coming up in June and at that time I'm pretty sure I'll have to make a choice....until then I'm interested to see how the differences in scheduling for the next two terms will pan out. Six more weeks in this term!

Some enjoyable things have happened in the midst of the last two weeks though that have brought smiles to our faces and created some "down" moments when possible.

--Last weekend I took my baby cousin to create her bridal registry--she did a great job of primarily registering just for the basics and it was fun to help her along!

--Last weekend we had one of hub's high school friends in town and per her request were able to take her out on the town. Since it was near Halloween, we got to enjoy some wonderful costumes, good food, and great drinks. This week one of my high school friends is here, splitting her time three-ways. Wednesday night was a long one picking her up from the airport after teaching and catching up in the wee morning hours. She'll also be here on Monday evening and we'll grab dinner at the house of another high school gal. On Tuesday after my morning meeting, I'll get her back to the airport, and then on Friday, hub and I head "home" to spend time with family & at the baby shower of his high school friend. It's been nice to grab a few moments with friends, and it's increased my excitement to see so many others who are flying in from Georgia, Arizona, California, and Canada over the next two months.

--Book Club happened also and it's always such a highlight to my month to spend quality time with these gals. We enjoyed an evening together over chatter, food, and wine, and threw in a bit of convo about my chosen selection "Crossing the Heart of Africa." Since I love Africa and travels, I thought the book was alright, but I'm the first to admit it wasn't the best book club selection. We scheduled out November and December dates and books however, and this month's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is A-MA-ZING. In two nights, I'm about 100 pages in and not really wanting to put it down. Who knows---It's already 3pm and no grading or prepping has yet occurred today, so maybe this month's book will get some more reading in! ;)

--New goals & financial pay offs achieved. New bed and mattress were paid off this month, and the ring will be paid in full next week. On Halloween, we also went ahead and bought a new vehicle..... Knowing I wanted a crossover, I've been trying to find the right fit for my wish/need lists and ended up taking a Sorento for a test drive. It had everything I've been wanting, is a top pick by my insurance, and financing all fell into place. Originally I was looking at buying new, but in the end I went with my original values and a 2011 which had been a rental in its previous 1.5 years. The only catch: its a V6 rather than the 4cyl I'd planned to get and my environmentalist side feels a bit guilty. My frugal side is happy, as we got a great purchase price and trade-in on my car, so much so that we could sell our new vehicle and come out ahead. While I had originally intended to pay off our truck first before purchasing something new, the deal we got ended up making it worthwhile and I still plan to have the truck paid off by next summer.

--Donations continue to occur and this year for Christmas I'm planning on a large donation to charity in the name of all of our families rather than purchasing any separate Christmas gifts. I've done this in smaller parts in the past, but this year it will just be one whole she-bang, as giving to others in need and spending TIME with loved ones seems to be more what Christmas is supposed to be about. Through the Center on campus where I work, we plan on doing a donation drive for deployment care packages, so I'll be ransacking our cupboards and book shelves to find what all I can to share. And the campus is also participating in a large book drive that is being sent to a local corrections center--so I continue to purge our bookshelves for that. If anyone is local and has used books you'd like to donate, let me know!

--And in the midst of the madness, hub and I seem to be trucking along. I'm not an easy person to live with when stressed, and we've definitely had some rough patches in the last six months for more fundamental reasons. Yet, at times in the midst of the chaos of late, it feels like our underlying care for each other continues to grow & develop. Hub always handles stress amazingly well (he's more of the "Survivor Personality" type) and most days he's being a wonderful support for me. Case in point: the other day I came home Hangry (hungry & angry/frustrated). I had a hankering for our favorite pub with solid food & good beer, which hadn't come to fruition earlier in the day. The minute I shared this with hub, he loaded me into the car no questions asked and drove me to "our" pub. We ordered food, shared about our days, and hub even picked up the check. We then came home to get ready for bed and spent a solid hour in laughter. It was the perfect ending to a somewhat-frustrating day. These are the moments I live for and the ones that go unforgotten. 

Right now in this moment, hub's off to the store with the dogs happily in tow, Major's curled up purring on my lap, good coffee's been enjoyed, texts with friends have been shared.....and while no work has yet to be completed today, it feels fulfilling in its own right. Some days I need to remember to give myself a break and realize that somehow, someway all the details will get completed in their own accord.

My wish for each of you is for slow, happy, enjoyments of your own---today and all days throughout this fall and holiday merriment to come!