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doodles, drawing will save my life, getting creative, goals, life, mental illness, motivation, my salmon and noodle casserole is the shit, random shit that falls out of my brain, recipes, school, zentangle doodles
That is sooo much funnier when you say it out loud to a little kid.
I am STILL fighting with the cold/flu/black plague that I caught over the holiday break. I haven’t had to take a decongestant more than a few times, and always at night, but I’m still running the humidifier by the bed and every morning in the shower I expectorate crap from my lungs. Before you blame my filthy little smoking habit you should know that it is a rare day indeed that I smoke more than 6 cigarettes. The worst part of all this is the utter lack of energy. By the time I get home from work and take care of the little household bits I’m pretty well spent. This is making getting homework and projects done quite difficult.
Doodling got me through class last night. That woman is pushing the limits of my meds, as they all seem to. Fortunately the little notebook I’m using has a light pattern of large diamonds on the pages that made a lovely backdrop for a little zentangle-ing. That and writing shitty notes to the prof in my notebook will get me through this. Well, that and the nice gal who sits next to me and the hip young gal that I smoke with.
I got the heart doodle outlines finished last night, but I had already turned off my phone so I didn’t take a pic. (does anyone else actually turn their phone off at night or am I the only one?) I thought maybe I’d start going over the outlines with black marker but by then my hands were not at all steady. Maybe tonight. I’m thinking it’s going to be amazing for on a t-shirt or something. And Mom wants it, too. It’s probably just me but I think it’s pretty fucking awesome.
And now for something completely different…
I’m still working on the whole simplifying business. I think I have entirely too many clothes. Josh argues that I am a woman who works in a professional field so I need a lot of clothes. I call bullshit on that. But right now doesn’t seem like a great time of year to be making too many decisions because the weather around here is utterly ridiculous. (but really, what the fuck does that have to do with anything?) I don’t want to get rid of things I’ll need when it really warms up but I don’t want to keep a bunch of shit I’ll never wear.
Stuck.
I’ve been reading all sorts of articles about people paring down and that inspires me but I’m still feeling the pull of consumerism. I still want to buy stuff even though I know that won’t make me happy and will likely make things even worse. And then I read this post this morning and was comforted to know I’m not alone.
Is anyone else trying to pare down or simplify this year? How’s it going for you? Do you have any tips or suggestions to share with the class?
And here’s where I change direction entirely. The recipe I mentioned the other day…
Salmon Noodle Casserole
4 C wide egg noodles
2 cans boneless/skinless salmon
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 C half & half
1 Tbsp dried minced onion
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/8 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1 1/2 C frozen peas
French Fried onions
Boil the noodles until tender, adding the peas during the last minute. Drain the salmon and flake. Combine all other ingredients except FF onions in a large covered casserole dish. Drain the noodles well when done boiling and add to the casserole along with the salmon. Stir well until everything is combined. Cover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover, top with onions, and bake another 5 minutes.
ETA:Β I forgot about the peas!!!
Oh thanks for the recipe, it sounds great! I still have that cold-gremlin I hate it when I have to caugh the whole time… and I’m sick of the reproachfully looks of the people when they see me with a cigarette… it’s just a cold and it has nothing to do with smoking….shall I glue an attest of my dogtor on my forehead? could be funny :o)
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This bug seems to be hanging on for way longer than it should. And maybe it’s just me, but do you sometimes find that when you’re coughing smoking actually makes it a little better?
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absolutely and the cigarettes haven’t a bad taste, it feels like they would clean my throat :o)
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My phone is pretty much always turned off, but I’m weird like that…
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Mine is normally on from about 6:30am until 8pm, mostly because I text a few of my girlfriends at odd hours. I actually think more people should turn their phones off more often.
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1/2 C half & half…..what’s this?? xx
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Perhaps it’s a uniquely American thing. It’s cream, but not heavy whipping cream, maybe half whipping cream and half milk? It’s often used for coffee and desserts, and if you’re a little piggy like me you’ll dump it directly on such desserts as bread pudding or cobblers.
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Ah okay, yes, we have something similar! It sounds gorgeous only I’m not a massive salmon fan but I reckon it’d work really well with chicken too! I might try it out with the kids next week π xx
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The original recipe calls for canned tuna, which is not my favorite so we tried the salmon the other night. Mom and I had actually discussed doing it with chicken. And now I’ve realized I forgot the peas!!!
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Zentangling is such a good way to get through frustrating times. I need to do more of it and avoid the frustrations. π
The simplifying thing is a big deal. I mentioned to you before that I was going to try to start a challenge for simplifying and decluttering. I MUST do it soon, as I am moving halfway across the world in July, and this two bedroom apartment can result in only 4-6 suitcases going across. So there is definitely a need. Maybe I should use your post as a good reason to start doing this for others in a more organized way. π
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I can’t even imagine trying to condense a two bedroom place into a handful of suitcases, that just totally boggles my mind. Have you seen the Simplifying Plan page I put together? I have it listed under Goals up at the top. That may or may not help, and you’re welcome to do whatever you’d like with it. Anything I can do to help, just holler! π
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One of the clothing tips I use is, turn the hangers on the rail backwards, all of them, and then the items of clothing you wear, put the hangers back on the rail the right way. After a few months, if some of those hangers are still backwards, then you know that, that item is just filling up valuable space and you take it to a charity shop, or chuck it, or whatevers. xx
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I’ve heard that one from many sources now. Have you actually tried it? I’ve seriously considered it. Maybe I’ll actually do it this weekend.
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Yeah I do it as a habit now, it’s actually a lot easier for me as I tend to have weird attachments to stuff I own. I hate chucking things out “just in case”. It’s easier to do it without looking. π
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Excellent! It’s one thing to get a recommendation like that from an article but it’s entirely different to hear from someone who has tried it and had success. Thanks! π
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I never turn off my phone but it has a silent feature that will only let the numbers I assign the ability to ring through. In my case, my sister, daughter and son. Those are calls that could be emergencies as they know I go to bed with the chickens. If I need to make a 911 call, the phone is ready. Nothing else can get even a tinkle of noise on my phone then.
As for paring down, I think everyone seems to be trying. I have for certain though all the moving has me highly motivated. We wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time, and 80% of them only 20% of the time. But when we need those outfits, why buy them again? I have clothes for dressing up and going out. I may do that so infrequently that someone else might say get rid of those things. Then I’d have to stay home all the time. So I keep space for a few things that are worn infrequently. I get one, maybe 2 outfits new a year as others completely wear out.
It’s not the clothes in my closet that bother me the most, it’s the crap on the surfaces that drive me plum nuts. Every flat surface in this house if covered and I hate it. We have filled up the back of the suburban twice to donate and there is still stuff everywhere. Could I pay a bill at my desk. Hell no, I can’t even sit in the damn chair. I’m going to take an empty box and start filling it again. If it has no home, it’s going out. This is my year to get organized. Hard to do with family moving in and out of my place during their own transitions but my mental health depends on it. Good luck. I’m a bit overwhelm myself.
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I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t tolerate messes and chaos, I just can’t function. Everything in our living space has be tidy before I go to bed or I can’t sleep. Well, everything except Josh’s spaces. π
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Normally. mine too. Once he’s finished moving in all should be better. He’s got the fridge pulled out to fix the ice maker that froze up and leaked all over the floor. I have to put up with a bit of mess for a time to get other things fixed. π
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Temporary chaos that’s happening for a good cause is different than “I’m lazy right now and can’t be bothered to clean up after myself” chaos. π
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I like that!
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