Day Sixty-Three: Of Mind Melds and Fruit.

"Day (-------): Summertime Blues.
Hello and welcome to the ghost town that has become of this blog.
I promise I've not been dead, I've just been extraordinarily busy for the beginning of summer. I've been watching two kids, who are absolutely lovely. While also attempting to circumnavigate the awfulness that is summer school. (Pay attention in class kids, lest you become the seventeen year old with three classes to re mediate.) I've also been attempting to find a mentor for senior project.
I did, however, manage to write a blog post at the end of the year.
"Day Fifty-Three: Holy F*#k.
Today is an amazing day.
I'm more than a little proud that I am passing all my classes and my google history was not displayed for the entirety of Ipoly to see. It's been a beautiful, chaotic last week. Everything seems to be happening at a million miles a minute. That's okay though because we're figuring it out one day at a time.
A look back on the week includes

• Another bout of habitual lateness
• Two lovely migraines
• The urge to commit homicide at least twice
• Actually doing my homework ahead of time
• And the feeling of hazy nostalgia of a year better spent trying

Yes, this year has been a wild ride (like I've written in every yearbook) and I didn't think that I could be any more content. Despite that, I am. I'm so pleased and I feel so damn elated that I was able to do better. I was able to make a huge improvement in my mental, physical, and emotional health this year. As well as my grades!

I'm incredibly proud of all my friends who did amazing things this year, I'm proud of the friends that I had and lost this year. Most of all, I'm proud of my survival. My Slytherin spirit and determination not to lose. Tooth and nail, blood and tears, thick and thin. It's been a magnificent year and I can't wait for my next big adventure.

(which you can conveniently follow over at Senior Year by Hunter Baugus)

Have fun and Enjoy Summer!"

See, wasn't that lovely? 

We'll return to regularly scheduled blogging soon enough. Once I get my head on straight for sure.

Have Fun and Enjoy Life."

Y'know it's pretty funny when I write several drafts and forget to post them because I've been so busy doing other things. Hi, blog that I've let fall into ruin, how are you?

I'm doing okay, been having pretty awful migraines as of late and I haven't really had the funds to have any adventures. I have, however, been able to work on my other blogs and social media. Fun stuff I know. I've also dedicated a small chunk of my life to Critical Role, a Geek and Sundry show about Dungeons and Dragons. The show features an array of voice actors and actresses and is just awesome.

I also had an adventure in child watching, which was fun. I got to take them on random travels and give them ice cream and not tell their mom. I felt like the super cool kid watcher for awhile and was able to get some summer school done in the mean time. I've also been in my constant struggle with Major Douche Bag, my evil summer school "advisor."
Over all it's been a pretty grand adventure for the start of the summer. I hope to get back to some semblance of a schedule with this blog, but I make no promises.
That's all from me folks, I'll see you in the next round.

Have fun and Be lazy.

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Smoking Gun. By Hufflepuffgirl77

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“I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.” 
―  Herman Melville

Day Forty-Two: The Start of Something.

I'd really like to not make this post.

I have no knitting updates, the kitty hat lays in desolate sadness. I will be starting stitch week (tentative title) soon.
No, today's post is about health and my lack of. I'm starting a workout challenge. I'm proclaiming it here on my blog so I have less chance of skipping out on it. This is by no means a diet. I hate the idea of diets because they all focus on "This is what's wrong with your body here's a restrictive way to fix it." No, I will instead be going on a fitness journey because I'm not in good shape. I love my body and I love the way I look, but the fact that I'm not able to do cartwheels without hurting myself isn't a good sign.
So I'll be doing "Squat it away May" (*eyeroll*) and also having a meal replacement. My meal replacement is a green smoothie. The reason for the meal replacement is, I've been eating a lot of junk food. It's super bad for my health and more importantly my skin!

I'm really trying to emphasize that this isn't because I don't like the way I look, because I do. It's about my health. Being a healthy individual is really important to me and I think it will help me be a more productive person. I know that there are younger people following me and I don't ever want to encourage something that could be harmful to them. I think it's really important to say that, I know this is going to take a while and I'm not expecting instant results. There is a massive push from media to be beautiful, and to do so instantly. They shove diet pills at twelve year olds who still haven't grown out of their baby fat. Images of impossible waistlines and incredulous biceps litter our landscape. I never want to be apart of that push. I was super heavy set when I was 12 and incredibly insecure about it. My mom always told me to wait until I turned sixteen, I would even out. I did. I grew into my body and found out what made me feel most comfortable. Now I'm seventeen, nearly eighteen, and I still feel that way.
What I'm trying to say is that before you decide you want to go on a diet or do some crazy workout, make sure you're comfortable with yourself. If you're doing something out of a place of insecurity, you might end up going to extremes. Like I tell my little sister, you are incredibly beautiful never think otherwise, society will do that for you.  Make sure you're not being influenced by some ad on TV. That goes for all physical and mental features.

Have fun and love yourself

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Gotta Have You By starfleets

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“Love yourself. Forgive yourself. Be true to yourself. How you treat yourself sets the standard for how others will treat you.” 

― Steve Maraboli

Day Forty-One: Pot Pie and a Luke Warm Reception.

Let's make a pot pie.

Before we get started I feel obligated to state that this was probably the best thing I've ever made. It was also literally the easiest.
The recipe I used can be found over at Mom's Test Kitchen.
THINGS YOU'LL NEED:

-2 tubes (8 ounces/8 rolls) refrigerated crescent rolls

-about 2 teaspoons of mixed dried seasonings, divided (The original poster used thyme ,garlic powder, parsley and oregano. I swapped the garlic powder for basil and added bay leaves.)

-1 can (10.75 ounces) cream of potato soup

-1 can (10.5 ounces) cream of celery soup

-1/3 cup milk

-2 bags (12 ounces) frozen vegetable soup mix*, thawed

-salt & pepper to season

-2 tablespoons butter, melted

-additional dried thyme for seasoning

You'll want to preheat the oven to 375 degrees (Fahrenheit) and prep your pie dish. The recipe recommends a nine inch dish. I sprayed mine with a little cooking oil and got to work on the crescent rolls. First thing I noticed was the recipe said to take apart the 8 triangles, which I did. I then had to attempt to geometrically fit the 8 triangles into a circle. It didn't help that I might of grabbed the wrong sized pie dish. After five minutes of hammering dough into place I finished. I put the crust into the oven for six minutes.

Look at the light dapple that delicious slice of heaven.
I made that, hell yeah.

While that was doing whatever baking magic it was doing, I was prepping the innards. I dumped two cans of soup in a large sauce pan. The celery soup came out fine, but the potato soup was stuck inside the can. I also face the dilemma of the recipe not telling me if I should add a can full of water to the soups. (Quick question on that matter, do you or your family add a can of water to your soup or is it just my family?) I added half a can and then the vegetables. Immediately I was filled with fear and a twinge of regret because what was in my sauce pan looked like way too much filling. I also forgot about the milk until this point and added it hastily. As well as the seasonings. 

At this point you may notice I don't always follow instructions to a T. (Makes everything much more exciting in my opinion.) That means I didn't measure out the proper amount of seasonings. I added about a handful of basil and oregano, two bay leaves, and a pinch of parsley flakes. Allowing that to stew for a little bit, I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. Until the microwave beeped, letting me know that "Oh yeah I had crust in the oven." I couldn't find the oven mitts, which means the crust stayed in the oven an extra two minutes. When I pulled it out, I saw that the dough had raised a considerable amount. I squashed the crust down a bit, careful not to burn myself (I did burn myself though.) and added the delicious insides. 

I actually managed to make something look like the pin
I want a medal.

I then conscribed the help of my little sister to open the second can of rolls. With the earlier triangle challenge tackled, I was able to get the top crust on much faster. I threw it in the oven, proud of my accomplishment. Then immediately took it out and brushed butter and seasonings on the top. The pie was done in about twenty minutes, just enough time to clean up after my cooking fiasco and make pasta salad. 

Out came the pie and damn did it look good. It tasted even better, slightly savory and filled with vegetable goodness. I might cut the oregano next time, but that's just being nit picky.

To rate this recipe, I'm going to judge it on three things

-Easy to follow.......9/10 (Gotta dock on the can of water. And the fact that I had to use my brain to make the crust.)

-Cost........10/10 I spent twenty bucks on a meal for eight people.

-Deliciousness.........10/10 It tasted better than Marie Calenders.

Have fun and Eat well.

\\.Jukebox.//
Old Fashioned By Me!

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“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.”

― Ruth Reichl

Day Thirty-Nine: Gotta Love It.

Well if it hasn't been quite the week.

• Senior presentations
• The dumbest drama to ever be a thing
• Actual extreme frustration
• Long weekend (yay)
• I missed two days of blogging because life happens.
• Really I just didn't look very nice on Wednesday and my Thursday post never got edited. Oh well~
• Ipoly Senior year is looking like a thing I'm doing.
• If I can find summer school because free summer school is full.

I'm super exhausted and have been sleeping for large chunks of time. 14 hours yesterday and 6 hours today. Unfortunately it still doesn't help the fact that my head feels like it's splitting and I would like to fight an army of berserking orcs at the moment. 

Rage aside, the slow and steady progress that has been May hasn't been wasted. I've made real headway into all my projects (except the kitty hat.)

I leave you with very little sentiment and a deep permeating happiness that it's a long weekend.

Have fun and be safe.

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Bitty's Pre- Game Hype Mix By telling-myself-lies

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"You use and lose a lot of energy being grumpy."

-Ted Danson

Day Twenty-shmfg: Oh Friday, I'm in Love.

[I promise this was actually started on a Friday]
My life can't help but getting weird. Let's look at what happened this week.

• Senior president elections
• Got my younger sister back
• No one died
• Drove a new car
• Was photographed extensively 
• Scrapped a film
• Started a new one

We interrupt your typical Friday post for a Sunday post, since it's still technically a Sunday.

Fun fact, this Sunday was mother's day. For mother's day, my mom wanted noodles with butter. That's not exactly hard to make, nor is it particularly vegetarian. I don't really have a recipe. 

Life got weird this week but hey, that's how this works. Tomorrow I have a project plan and more things to add to my growing agenda. I'm also taking the CAASPP test tomorrow, I'd love to talk about what's on the test in hopes that they improve it for next year, but that's illegal. Oh well.

\\.Jukebox.//

I'm feeling incredibly lazy because of the test coming up tomorrow.

In Bed All Day by christine_w

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“What hath night to do with sleep?” ― John Milton, Paradise Lost

Day Twenty: First Foods and The Works.

After much debate and a bit of a late start, I decided to make tacos for dinner. Tacos was almost beat out by chow mien and dumplings. I might make that next Sunday, because it looked absolutely awesome.

Gotta love my fine china right?

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

No meat 'meat'! For all the carnivores
concerned with taste, you can't tell the
difference and this is a lot better for you.

• A bag of your favorite veggie crumbles. I used Boca Veggie Crumbles ($3.49)
• 2 Lemons
• 2 Limes
• Some cheese of your choice (I used mild cheddar.)
• Corn Tortillas
• Taco seasoning of your choice

SIDE DISH:

• Rice
• Cilantro
• Lime.

The way you cook depends on how many people you're feeding. I was feeding six people, so I had to cook everything consecutively. You should start by prepping your seasonings. Cut your fruit in halves, and opening your taco seasoning. Set that aside and start your veggie crumbles on a medium low heat. 

Cook your taco shells to your liking while waiting for your 'meat' to cook. Once the 'meat' turns a dark brown color, add in your fruit juices and taco seasoning. 

Cook your rice to your standards, when it's finished add the cilantro and lime. 

If you cooked the food at the same time, it should all be finished and ready to plate. The meal feeds well and tastes fresh. It cooks up fast, giving you a large amount of protein for a good price.

That's it for today, I'm learning how difficult cooking instructions are to write.

Have fun and Eat well.

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Fire season.

California Spring By Me!

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."

-George Bernard Shaw

\\.Where To Get It.// 

(Boca Veggie Crumbles)  

(Taco)

(Important Things)