Making Good Choices with Cabin Fever

Posted on by Carla

What a weird time we are living in- we have been confined to the apartment almost entirely since March 7th when sickness hit us hard! We have only gone out for groceries a minimum of times, choosing to use the present to finally try click-and-collect grocery shopping at our local large grocery store. Great idea, will probably stick with it for the majority until long after this is all over. I am starting to accept that this is our new normal, at least for the time being. I am finding myself with renewed zest for healthy, intentional living. Because The Giant had a necessary errand to run, he said he would bring back lunch, such a treat after being stuck inside for this period. Still, nothing he suggested caught my attention and I told him not to bother getting me anything, that I would cook some kale (met with a green veggie grimace from him).

I decided that I would go all out, making everything I knew would nourish my body as well as my spirit. And I came up with my Everything Quinoa Bowl, a delicious rainbow of vegetables, including kale, red cabbage, turmeric zucchini, seared cherry tomatoes, green onion, parmigiano reggiano, olive & caper salad, garlic dressing, and a sprinkle of hemp hearts. It filled me and I know I will feel wonderful for hours to come.

It is so easy to get in a rut in the best of times. During our time of personal distancing it is even easier. I have found myself running the gamut of angry, sad, depressed and despondent, fearful, cranky, lethargic. I hate feeling this way and I believe that if I continue in this way I am not setting a good example for the little eyes that watch me. Sure, I took some time to wallow. I felt the full impact of the uncertainty we are all facing. But I was reminded today of the me I used to be. Where no second was wasted. Where there were no idle hands. Where time spent was time WELL spent. I always feel better when I am accomplishing something. I always feel better when I am working towards a better time. I always feel better when I am creating a life to love (heh, see what I did there?). With renewed vigor, I delve into things that have time and again helped me to feel like, or rediscover, my old self. So get ready to hear a lot more from me.

Finally, the take-away. You don’t have to let life just happen to you. The truth of the matter is we are living in a strange time and it requires us to make a bit of sacrifice with our freedom, for the good of all. At the end of the day, there you are, at home. What are you going to do with this time? Do the things that you know make you happy. Built, read, create, sing, write, learn an instrument, pick up a former hobby that has been left to the wayside. Pay attention to those projects you haven’t touched because you just didn’t have the time.

The time is now.

The Pumpkin Was Everywhere.

Posted on by Carla

ORIGINALLY DRAFTED JAN 16TH

What a fantastic 2020 it has been so far.

Okay, so we are only a few weeks in, but for me they have been amazing. We just transitioned our Peanut out of our room and into what is now known as “The Big Girls’ Room”. She has been in there for nearly a week now and last night was the first time since before we had her that I think my body finally realized it could actually rest. through. the. night. I slept like a stone. I woke up cramped and sore and… so happy. I am just so pleased that this transition has been going this well. The Giant and I really gained something back by getting our room back to ourselves. Of course there will always be tests, like tomorrow when it will be her first night in there without her big sister. And of course I am going to miss the personal heater-warm toddler snuggles (oh, the snuggles…..), but it was time.

Anyway I was totally just feeling it today, despite my mildly-protesting body. I checked the forecast first thing after my alarm went off. -44 C with wind chill! Another extreme weather day. Rather than go back to sleep, I got up and started whipping my kitchen into shape, as it had been sorely neglected while we made the Big Girls Room a priority over the last few days, including lots of purging, donating, cleaning, organizing, and entertaining Peanut so her sister had a chance to work in peace for a bit.

I snuck in and surprised Peanut when I noticed she had woken up and made her a quick breakfast and talked with her while I continued with the kitchen tasks.

On a roll, I made Instant Pot Ground Chicken and Rice Soup for lunch (recipe coming soon) along with 40 Minute Buns using a recipe from Allrecipes.com and my Kitchenaid mixer. The Giant also took out the meat slicer I got him for Christmas and sliced some Hot Calabrese dry sausage so the girls could try it. He picked it up at Costco and it is soooo good. Next week we will give the slicer a real test, as we are being given some moose meat to make jerky with- but that is an adventure for another day…

Finally having reclaimed the majority of the kitchen, I continued with the getting random stuff done portion of the day and finally decided to process a pumpkin that we had stored for a few months. And I knew that I wanted to try it in the Instant Pot. It really went wonderful, for the most part. Until the reality of our little kitchen came roaring back, hence the title of this post.

I cut the pumpkin in half, scooped out and separated all the pulp and seeds (which are soaking in salted water, waiting for a test run in the airfryer), chunked all the pumpkin up, put it in the steamer basket (from the accessory pack I received for Christmas) along with 1 cup of water. Closed, selected pressure cook setting for 4 minutes, set valve to Sealing, brought to pressure (took 15 minutes from cold) and let it do its thang for 4 minutes, then did Manual release and transferred pumpkin into Vitamix to puree. Then started all over with second batch.

Got through all of this again and pureed the first batch and bagged in 1.5 cup measures. I ended up using plastic zippered storage bags for this, as I still had a few, but hoping to get something reusable to replace them with, perhaps Stasher silicone bags? If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment below, let me know what you use to freeze in? Also, anyone make pumpkin puree powder, using dehydrator, then blending in high-powered blender? Something I might have to try…

To continue, I had gotten to the point where hot pumpkin from the second batch was sitting in the blender cooling and we had to get supper underway so I slip the blender back on the counter and accidentally. hit. the. power switch….. 😮

Deep Exhale.

Did I mention that the lid wasn’t on it?

Did I mention that I had left the power dial to setting 10 (MAXIMUM)?

Did I mention that the TURBO Switch was also still flicked on?

Deep breath again….

Hot pumpkin puree was everywhere.

It landed its hot orange self all over me, on my shirt and pants and forearm and glasses. Over the countertop and under the cupboards and on the wall and the backsplash. On the rug in the entryway hall, on the kitchen floor. I am still finding tiny remnants, like on our library bag, which was hanging at least 1.5 meters away at the time (but I only noticed the bright orange spots AT the library on our last visit).

It was about 2 cups of pumpkin that we cleaned up. I felt lousy for causing such a horrible mess- I even said, “I thought this sort of thing only happened in sitcoms…”. But The Giant, in his usual form, made me see the lighter side of things. He just helped clean it up and, laughing, he asked me to compare it to the Great Soy Sauce Disaster of 2015 or the Blue Cheese Dressing Incident of 2016 (one of those his stories and one of them mine, which I may just have to tell you about some day).

Sappy Personal Realization/Growth Moment: I realized that in the moment I was taken back to another time and place and felt my own response to the situation to be a response to what once was. In a different time, I would have allowed myself to be berated for making such a stupid mistake. I would have been called down, my base intelligence questioned. I would have internalized the view of myself as incompetent and I would have felt a pressing need to make up for such a mistake by further pushing myself, walking on eggshells in the meantime.

The Giant reminded me that it was nothing, just a mistake. That this turn of events wasn’t a reflection of who I am. That he is always willing to help me clean up such a silly mistake, just like I will always help him. And that is just what this was- one more silly story we will tell and laugh about for years to come.

I am so lucky to be where I am today. Still finding specks of pumpkin.

Still finding specks of pumpkin

Hello world!

Posted on by Carla

Today I did it- I started a blog!

For years I have been thinking “I should really be putting this on a blog” whenever I held a special event and went next level with the execution, whenever I did my meal prep, or took a trip, or tried out a new cooking appliance, or worked through a pervasive personal issue, or made an especially good grocery haul… You get it. I thought about it often

For years, others have been asking me why I DON’T blog, or have some other social media presence to make some of my crazy projects known. They’d ask me questions and advice for themselves, all these times I was thinking about blogging.

Well, it is done. I am here. I finally pushed past the doubt and my own often knee-jerk repeated negativity.

I have always been a performer, be it musical, acting, public speaking, leading. I have always loved the feeling of creating something beautiful, something of value to someone else for their enjoyment and presenting it to them, to the very best of my ability. For many many years I let someone else dictate how I saw myself. But this action, this leap proves to myself that I don’t feel that way anymore. I am no longer in the clutches of my past, at least not enough to prevent me from creating the best life I can in the here and now.

I am here- grow with me.