Dear Winter: I Hate You.

pic courtesy of bigfoto.com

I know that in the winter, I don't shut up about my seasonal affective disorder, or how much I just hate winter in general. Here in the northeast, it just seems to drag on forever (although I feel like the fleeting beauty of fall almost makes up for it, almost), and this past week or so has been the worst of the worst. There have been snow storms, ice storms, migraines, and (GAH) the super bowl to contend with. Gross. On top of that, Hubs has put in about 40 hours of OVERTIME in the past week or so which means, you guessed it, that I have here at home too. Being stuck in the house is no picnic, but board games and crafts (and Netflix) have made it ok, as well as knowing that even though it feels that way, this will not last forever! Also with Valentine's Day around the corner it is helping me to have something to focus on in the short-term. The days are only getting longer from here on out!
If you, like me, need a lift this winter, here are a few links to help you out:

•  Over at Modern Mrs. Darcy, Anne blogs about the things that are saving her life right now (she is dealing with some seasonal bummer-tude too). For me? It is between spending the remainders of my Christmas Starbucks giftcards so I have a reason to leave the house, you know, besides grocery shopping and preschool drop-offs, and the coveted "Mom Time" when I get the house to myself for a few hours and turn my brain off. Oh, and doing bootleg Leslie Sansone walking videos from youtube in my living room *if* the kids decide to nap during the day. She's a guilty pleasure, and I know I can't really count it as a workout, but I love it. So what is saving you right now? It's a hell of a question to ponder.
• Be glad you don't live near me. A town nearby is considering outlawing sledding. You heard that right. I don't really sled (part of the whole "avoiding the outdoors in winter" thing) but when I take the kids to the field by the legion to drag them around for a few minutes, I can't imagine being given a ticket for it! Instead, focus on the million reasons why you should never come to New Jersey (all sarcasm. It's gorgeous here, despite my seasonal hatred for everything).
• Boardwalk Cats. Atlantic City has taken quite a beating lately with all of the casinos closing and the economy kind of tanking and though I would once have wandered around that town for days, now I wouldn't leave the relative safety of the boardwalk, because that's how bad it's getting down there. But you don't have to leave the boardwalk to make friends with these adorable felines, who live under the boards and are part of a trap-spay/neuter-return program there. I have personally befriended many a boardwalk cat and also considered taking them home in my purse but you know what's worse than driving 4 hours home with a feral cat in your car? Winter, but not much else.
• The Walking Dead comes back this Sunday, so there's that to look forward to. Here's a link to the first two minutes of the mid-season premiere, courtesy of AMC. Poor Maggie. But Beth was not making for terribly riveting television. Now we know that they're heading somewhere outside Richmond, though, at least in theory.

Chew on that for a while. I'll be jacking up the heat and dreaming of Wildwood in the summer!

FOOOOOD, glorious food (that I'm too lazy to make)

I am having some food-related issues lately. Like as in I'd like to eat everything but I don't really feel like cooking. Baking, maybe, but I can't live on muffins and sourdough bread. Well I could, but it wouldn't be pretty and I'd also have to start living in my yoga pants.

In trying to "research" and help myself, I decided to seek out a few new recipes to shake it up a bit. So here are some food-related tidbits for y'all: 

Here's a list of 50-something healthy meals you can make in less than 15 minutes. Totally beats crappy canned soup.

If you're feeling adventurous, why not try these cauliflower pizza bites?



Do you know about Joy the Baker? Because you totally should. Her blog is always in inspiration to try new recipes! I have made several of her recipes throughout the past year and all have been super incredibly delicious, I promise. Plus I have a huge girl crush on her.

Speaking of girl crushes, one of my BFFLs and I are going to try something new on this blog. She is of Middle Eastern descent and sometimes asks for a few pointers on preparing non-Middle Eastern recipes. Since she lives like an hour away and I only get to see her about once a month (and when we do get together we usually focus on hookahs, celebrity gossip and truth-or-dare without any dares and totally don't want to fixate on cooking), we are going to try to arrange bloggy cooking tutorials for a few recipes. We will be starting this month!

So after all that "research" I still need to go figure out what I'm making for dinner before my hungry hubs walks through the door, which is in about 15 minutes. Wish me luck!

Our biggest mistake..

is trying to have it all?
I heard a story on the radio yesterday (link to text and audio here) about a woman, Ann-Marie Slaughter, who had and still has both a very successful career (first as the director of policy planning for the State Department and now as a professor at Princeton) and a family. Nice. However, she is one of the first women to "tell it like it is" and say what most other women don't want to say, lest we be labelled anti-feminist: women still can't have it all. We never could. Balancing everything is tough, and unfortunately in the case of high-powered careers, nearly impossible, even with a helpful spouse.
She claims that by trying to do everything both at home and at work, we end up feeling like we are doing poorly at both places. To do things like have natural children (biology is something we simply can't avoid), we have to make some career compromises. That's just the way it is.
This message is in contrast to those espoused by other women like Ms. Sheryl Sandberg, a facebook executive who maintains (in true liberal feminist fashion) that more women need to push their way to the top so that changes will be made. You can read more about that in this morning's NY Times article here. Some women, however, see Sandberg's view as a criticism or an admonishment for not having chosen to push for the career first and foremost, as she did. 
The article by Ms. Slaughter that triggered the whole thing, published in the Atlantic, can be found here.
I won't argue for either case. There's plenty of fuel to fire the "mommy wars" elsewhere on the internet. If I've learned anything in 27 years, it's that you've got to do what works for you and your family. If it doesn't work, it may be a hard choice, but just don't do it! I honestly believe that one cannot do everything. I have a very supportive, very enlightened spouse who is great with Stenni, helps with cooking and household chores despite having a stay-at-home wife to handle such things, and would support my having a career if I so chose. But when I did have a career? Let's just say that my educated enlightened husband is not really great at laundry, and that we both would have missed a lot of things we'd have liked to be there for when Stenni was a baby, and leave it at that.
I don't care what people do. I'd rather not see people in this century demonized for making a choice that should just be made among the family. Yes, women have the right to work but it shouldn't feel pushed on us either (another problem that I don't believe is addressed properly in any of these articles: when a career is expected and the juggling act is just another thing that you're supposed to do with your life). Some women have to work. That's just life.
I don't know, it's just food for thought. It sparked some interesting conversation with the hubs in the car on the way home from the pediatric orthopedic surgeon yesterday. Yeah, Stenni's in a cast up to her knee. She fractured her leg in a fall while she was playing with cousins the other day. She can't get the cast wet or even go on the beach because of the sand, so goodbye to next week's beach vacation. Sigh.

what i've been doing (and loving) lately, through some links

so i've been gone for a little bit. i needed some recharging. to be honest, i still do. hubs and i are still in the thick of trying to sell our house and to be honest, keeping the house spotless most of the time is exhausting. we had a showing yesterday, and came home to find our closets open, which was a real eye-opener. obviously people want to know that there's closet space, but my closet is the least organized place in the entire world, and it really freaks me out that people now know that! i mean, there are suitcases, overnight bags, a huge army bag full of unused purses, a million pairs of shoes, boxes of pictures, besides the ton of clothes...i may have to seriously tackle that area soon. i like to think that closets are the last bastion of privacy, but i guess i'll have to swap that out for my car or something.
i've also been cooking a lot lately. one recipe of note that you must try immediately is joy the baker's french onion soup sandwiches. they were amazingly delicious and i used the perfect gruyere from calkins creamery, which i picked up at the warwick valley farmer's market that just re-opened for the season (we've already been there quite a few times, and the hard cider man gives us a discount whenever we go)!
also i love joy the baker's lovely post on what she's learned in 30 years. i have 3 left to go but i doubt i'll take in all the necessary knowledge in that short time!
also, and though i know i never wear them, i've been thinking about buying a pair of jeans lately for vacation. i have like, one pair that i wear occasionally, but i HATE HATE HATE jeans shopping. it is even worse for me than bathing suit shopping. luckily, this lovely, informative post about denim from the inside out style blog has given me the proper info with which to equip myself on my journey.
we have been doing a ton of family gardening around here whenever it isn't raining (which right now seems like never, since it's currently raining AGAIN), as we have a smaller garden at home a a larger one about a mile away at my folks' house. this is super exciting and i can't wait for fresh produce and of course blue ribbons from the fair. my lettuce just started popping and we already have a little watermelon sprout, as well as some pepper and tomato plants and a bunch of herbs and whatnot. i always love the garden, and this year we could even put stenni to work helping use move rocks...truly a family affair!
anyway i'm back now and hope to post at least semi-regularly, at least until vacation!