First off, Heck yes that the latest season of Big Love is out. I ordered it on itunes. Of course it takes damn near a day to download one episode lol.
Second off, My mom sent me some packages of goodies. One was a boat load more Bulgur wheat. I hope the movers will ship it otherwise i'll have to mail it to myself. The other box was some magazines and recipes. I opened that one first thinking it was the grains because that what the customs form said. She apparently mixed them up. I was surprised when I first opened to find a Travel Journal. Pretty nifty thing with checklists and different sections to track our move. After that was something wrapped up. None of these were listed on the form so she threw them in to surprise me. Once I opened the wrapped item I came to find that it was a frame. I ended up crying after opening it. It was a framed picture of my Grandparents (on my moms side). My grandpa passed away right before Christmas in '09. My grandma passed away when I was about 11 or 12 unexpectedly. So it was a mixture of surprise from seeing a photo of them happy and together and the fact that I still really really miss them both. It was a pleasant surprise though. I'm glad I have a picture of them both.
So this stress stuff. Some people are better than others at managing their stress. I know my lack of exercising can't be helping me at all. I got stressed during our move here but I don't know if it was from all the exercise I was doing or the blindness going into our first real PCS but I don't remember being this nerve racked. So aside from having to work in regular exercise again and finding time for little bits of meditation (to clarify this is the kind where you sit there and just empty your thoughts for a little bit of mental quiet time) I am also considering herbal remedies.
One co-worker of mine is also into herbal suppliments and is even more easily stressed than me. There are different kinds of herb capsules that help with stress. Here is a link to some and their supposide properties. http://www.vegetarian-nutrition.info/herbs/passionflower.php She gave me some of her Passion Flower pills when she heard me complain about being stressed out. I have yet to try them but am debating it as of recently. I hate taking any kind of medicine wether natural or pharmecutical but if I were to try i'd rather it be natural.
Really it isn't much different than drinking a Tea. Afterall, tea is just ground and dried herbs as are these herbal capsules. I think perhaps I should get back into drinking more tea's rather than all my coffee lol. I used to drink it pretty frequently but for some reason coffee took over. One tea that I would like to try is a lavender tea. Typicaly I enjoy a nice cup of Lady Grey. I also drink Chamomile when I have an upset stomach or before bed. So I am opting to buy some of this stuff...sounds yummy! http://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Medicinals-Certified-Chamomile-Lavender/dp/B0009F3PMQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1325416978&sr=8-4
In other news, I got a short and sweet email from my mom last night. All it said was that I should call my dad. That he has some good news to share. What might that good news be?? I have to wait like 5 hours yet before it'll be morning by him. The only thing I can think of is that his cancer is shrinking even more! He had a CT scan on monday. Gah the anticipation of this phone call...lets hope thats what it is! Maybe that stuff from canada is working after all...
I've been wanting to eat a good meatloaf dish. I used to make a killer meatloaf before we went vegetarian (the recipe from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook binder). My secret? I used crushed herbed stuffing instead of regular bread crumbs. So after looking and looking for a recipe it turned out I just had to look in one of my recipe books. All recipes online called for the veggie 'meat' crumbles. I didn't want to imitate meatloaf for it's 'meat' base, I wanted something made of grains. So in that fancy shmancy Vegetarian Mothers Cookbook I found the Bean and Nut loaf (this is marked as being a good freezable dish). I'll be making it tonight for dinner.
Bean and Nut Loaf
2 TBSP flaxseeds
1/4 Cup water
1 Cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 Cups cooked pinto or kidney beans, drained
2 carrots, shredded or minced
2 TBSP minced parsley
1 1/2 Tbsp minced fresh herbs or 1 1/2 tsp dried (thyme, oregano, basic, etc)
3/4 Cup Breadcrumbs (or 1 1/2 slices of bread)
1/2 Cup tomato sauce
1 1/4 tsp sea salt.
Preheat oven to 375 F. Oil a loaf pan. Grind flaxseeds in coffee grinder or blender. Mix with water. Combine all ingredients (including flax mixture) together, mashing the beans as you mix. (a food processor works really well.) Press mixture into loaf pan. Bake for 70 minutes or until dry and firm.
Sounds yummy and excited to try it. I have already-ground flaxseed and i'll be using dried herbs. I'll probably go for Pinto beans first. I'm not the biggest fan of kidney beans. I may add a hint of dried onions and garlic in there. I'm a garlic whore as of lately. The recipe suggests eating oven fries with it (another recipe somewhere in the book). We'll probably just eat it with salad or steamed veggies.
Soo onto this New Years resolution thing. As always I rarely actually accomplish stuff on my resolution list. Like most people it slips by and you forget about it. I had put mine on the fridge this year in hopes I wouldn't forget about it but I think I took it off a few weeks later because it was cluttering up the door lol.
So here are some things i'd like to do in 2012
- Get pregnant
- Swim laps regularly again (so excited for this one!)
- Get back into some regular cycling outside of commutes.
- Get a new(er) car
- Reopen my Etsy shop.
- Knit more baby blankets :D
- Finish my SIL's hat once and for all.
- Finish my Moms blanket
- Knit my own blanket
- Go camping
- Buy a Team Tibco jersey kit
- Complete the Tour de Tucson (even if i'm pregnant! if I can!)
- Look into either a physical therapy assistant program or Massage Therapy program (education)
- Aim for homemade christmas for everyone this year.
Kinda short this year but I don't really know what to expect once we move to Tucson. I am hoping that this move back to the states brings me back to my good old self again. I have felt oddly out of my skin since moving to Germany. I've repeated it over and over but it's just so true. I've been negative and bummy for at least 2 years now. I'm ready to kick these blue's away.
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