Gorgeous pony tail thingy -

This Tired Girl has enough energy to become addicted to the Ryan Gosling "hey girl" images.  So I made this one about hair because I pretty much feel this way a lot of the time. 


These are the new great pony tail holders I guess. I was skeptical at first, but like any other fad I am now all in. I have found my favorite ones at Charming Charlie, and of course Amazon has plenty - just to give you an idea. 

By the way - if you have never been to Charming Charlie, then take a day off from work, withdraw a set amount of money from the bank, leave all other cards at home and head over there. Kiss all the money and time goodbye and snuggle all your new neat cheap stuff. 

How to get a long with jerks -

Sometimes other people make me tired.  Whether it is the drama of a co-worker; the insensitivity of a friend; the lack of self-esteem in others that will manifest in a rudeness towards me.  All of these and more can make me exponentially more tired.  Mostly, because we can’t control other people and their actions; we can only control how we react in those situations.  In the end, no matter our choices, other people make me tired.  Here are a few strategies that sometimes work on some people that sometimes stink:

 - Kill them with kindness and then run away.  Self-explanatory and sometimes pretty hard    to do.  But it’s awfully hard for people to say or do anything against you when you have seriously been nothing but pleasant, even if you are secretly glaring at them.  

 - Eliminating the toxic people you are able to be away from.  Some people you don’t HAVE to interact with, so don’t (especially if they somehow make you feel like crap).  A toxic friend or relative?  No thanks. This one is the easiest for me believe it or not.

 - Don’t show up to the argument or drama that you have been invited to.  Ha – love this! Your officemate had another fight with her boyfriend?  – OMG you don’t care.  Your body language and comments that change the subject and don’t ask for every detail will slowly train her (hopefully) that you –OMG - seriously you are there to do a job!!  Do you feel a teeny bit mean?  Probably, but in the long run it is worth it.

 - Survival of the fittest and nicest.  Some people make me feel guilty when it takes me awhile to call them back, and when that happens it takes even longer the next time.  Who wants to spend their precious energy being made to feel guilty when the phone works both ways? Not me.  The friends I have fit in to the survival of the fittest and the nicest category.  These are the people that don’t get their feelings hurt when I don’t attend the bachelorette party or take a little too long to email them back.  These are true friends. They truly love me and because of it they will take me with my flaws (tiredness) and all.  

We all know the difference in our friends, relatives and coworkers, etc.  We know the ones that our good for us and the ones that aren’t.  I use the alcoholic anonymous saying here and added in the word people.  - "Allow me to accept the things (people) I cannot change, the courage to change the things (people) I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  

Sorry for all the ecard thingys - I still like them. 

Taco Soup -

I love Taco Soup -- update!! My friend April sent this wonderful idea - a new take on taco soup for those of you master crock potters out there.  I think the chicken would be yummy (chicken absorbs flavors so well) and healthy AND no defrosting (I am terrible at remembering to defrost).  Here are her words about Taco Soup:  

We make this all the time, we love it! Because I'm so lazy, I throw it all in the crock pot in the morning, and throw in one or two frozen chicken breasts in place of the meat and a packet of taco seasoning (easy). And, I don't have to wash a pan until the soup is all gone. It takes me less than 5 min. I haven't tried the ranch, but I'm actually making it Friday, so I might throw that in for fun :). 

I love the crock pot! Sometimes even the idea of browning the meat it exhausting to me. Here is the recipe I use, but you can sort of do whatever with it. I also found that at Wal Mart,( no political statement here please;), you can find a jar of chopped onion for 50 cents, which saves you from even cutting up the onion and messing up a perfectly good clean knife and cutting board. It's on the bottom shelf of the spice aisle, usually hiding. I don't measure spices, just throw in a pack of taco seasoning and again, frozen chicken breasts work just fine.  It is here.

I love Taco Soup. I love it because I want to lick the bowl it’s so good. I love it because it’s mostly good for me. I love it because the ingredients can pretty much always be on hand. I love it because it’s easy. I love it because once I make it we can eat it all week long.  It is – in my Tired Girl world – a five for one.  A five-fer. 

I am going to give the abbreviated recipe (the one I actually use) and then at the bottom I will tell the modifications you can make. I like to make this pretty hot/spicy lately. 

1-2 lbs ground beef or ground turkey or crumbled meat-like tofu

onion powder (too much for this TIred Girl  to cut up an onion)

1 envelope ranch dressing

1 envelope taco seasoning

2 cans rotel (I get the “hot”)

1 can pinto beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can whole kernel corn

1 can cream style corn

1 large can pureed tomatoes

Cayenne pepper

Some water maybe

Brown the meat (while it’s browning I open all cans),

mix in taco packet and ranch dressing packet and simmer for about 5 minutes (ignore that these things contain MSG – just let it go). 

sprinkle in onion powder (too tired to measure things)

dump in cans – I do not drain – I use the liquid in the cans to create the liquid for the soup

sprinkle in the cayenne (maybe too hot for little one's so consider skipping if serving to kids)

mix it all up

let it cook – low bubble, boil – for a while. Sometimes I cook it right up until I serve it and sometimes I turn it off, put the lid on and just let it sit.  SOMETIMES I cook it the same night I cook another easy dinner - with the plans to serve the soup the next night.  It tastes even better the next day and then I have one night of cooking for a whole week of just reheating.

If I am feeling extra skinny then a dollop of sour cream, some cheese and or taco chips are good on top.  If I am not feeling skinny I just eat it as is and it is still yummy.

I get organic meat and all organic canned beans/veggies – this is how I justify the MSG. I often substitute things in to the soup based on what I have – maybe different kinds of beans, sometimes a can of chickpeas, etc.  Whatever. The actual recipe calls for green pepper ( I don’t like) and canned hominy (I skip that).

I do not wait for cold weather for this – I make it all the time – at least once a month. I borrowed these photos from the internet - I included the link to the other recipes if you are interested in variations.

This is a Tired Girl must-have.  

1. http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/taco-soup-111547.aspx

2. http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/deep-south-taco-soup

3. http://www.lifesambrosia.com/2008/12/taco-soup-recipe.html

A laundry plan -

Laundry is my enemy - my real nemesis -  it literally is never going to end, and I do not enjoy any step along the way (except maybe the way my laundry room smells when I am washing or drying, other than that - bleh). 

I have become obsessed these past two weeks to get ahead of my laundry.  My goal is just to maintain a manageable amount, and so I have started doing one load every day, folding it and putting it away.  All THREE horrific steps in one day, but just one load.  I've done well with it so far - only skipped one day, and my success has allowed me to envision myself, some day, writing a book instead of glaring at full laundry baskets, because I have so much free time. AND it's nice to not look around your house and see laundry baskets everywhere full of maybe clean or maybe dirty laundry. 

I ran into trouble today as I discovered that my drawers and linen closets can not accommodate everything being clean at once.  Their success relies on the idea that a fraction of stuff is always dirty and therefore stored in a basket somewhere.  It is both an epic accomplishment that I did so much laundry and an epic failure that I have discovered I have too much stuff, I guess, or not efficient enough storage.  So if I am going to stay good at laundry I need to eliminate a few things.  I need to start a new give away bag.  

This Tired Girl has enjoyed her one laundry-load-a-day plan for the last 2 weeks.  Does anyone out there have a laundry plan?  Throwing your husbands dirty clothes out, one pair of socks at a time doesn't count.  Here is one idea - but I need more.

Here is a an image I found online that accurately represents our household. I have no one to blame but myself. 

Dry Shampoo -

You might be a Tired Girl if... You email yourself a to-do list and then get excited when you hear the distinctive "bing" on your phone, somewhere in the house, indicating you have an email.  Der! I emailed myself.

You also might be a Tired Girl if the idea of washing your hair some mornings makes you want to cry.  You choose possible ugliness over spending any extra energy getting ready.  This is me about every 3 days.  

I have slightly oily hair (feels icky admitting that - you jerks with your dry hair!). I have tried a few different types of “dry shampoo” (two words that strangely are so right together). My favorite is, luckily, the cheapest.  It is baby powder and even though most of the time my hair is dark (I am occasionally more blond) the white powder works great and does not make me look like Kelly Osbourne and her weird purple/grey hair situation. 

I sprinkle a smidge (scientific term) in the palm of my hand over my bathroom sink and rub my hands together, then I flip my head over and rub my powdery hands along my roots. Front to back and back and forth and all around (scientific term).  I flip up and take stock of myself.  Usually I add just a smidge (again with the science) more to my hand and concentrate on the hair right around my forehead and the back of my head (bed head area). Every so often I use too much and I can see a powdery haze on my hair, but as it turns out I have exceptional powder skills ( who knew?), so I rarely have to adjust.  My tip to you is to start with less – you can always add more, but you don’t want to look like you sprinkled powder on your head and cruised out the door ready to take on the day.

I’m not going to lie, it doesn’t always look gorgeous, but I don’t always care, and it never looks worse than it did before I used the powder. For me it saves the day (every three days, or, honestly, every other day).  

How would you finish this sentence – You might be a Tired Girl if…

I'm pretty sure my hair has never looked like either of these photos - I guess I am fine with somewhere in the middle.  Sorry Kelly O - no offense.

Sex and Pizza -

You know what they say about sex and pizza – even when it’s bad it’s still pretty good (true, or not, as a lady I will not discuss sex on a blog). This quote came to mind when my beautiful cousin wrote to me about her favorite Tired Girl “go-to” evening meal. Pizza of course – even when it’s bad – it’s still pretty good. Here are her words:

“For a quick dinner, you can never go wrong with pizza. I'm not talking about delivery, nor am I talking about a piece of cardboard that costs $1 in the freezer section. Cristin and I have discovered that you can pretty much put anything on a pizza and have it be amazing. Two wheat tortillas with a little cheese in between, baked for about 5 min is the perfect canvas for your artistic creation. The usual italian theme is a cinch: some spaghetti sauce, typical pizza toppings, cheese, DONE. However, we have discovered that cleaning out the fridge and putting WHATEVER you find on there is quite satisfactory. Leftover taco stuff? Slather on some taco sauce and throw it on there! Even avocado slices taste good on a pizza. Leftover mashed potatoes? Spread it on and top with green onions and some cheese, BOOM-- twice-baked bliss. We were so enthralled by the possibilities that we made an amazing Thanksgiving-esque pizza. We wanted it to be vegan so we made some cashew cream for the sauce (look up cashew cream...you won't regret it) and roasted some butternut squash, onion, raisins, and apple chunks for the topping. We sprinkled on a little nutmeg and some vegan cheese and it was a few slices of heaven. That right there proves that you really can put anything on a pizza. Cristin and I (fellow Tired Girls) have made tortilla pizza our go-to dinner. Within 15 min, you have the ability to put to use your personal creativity, and then eat it.”

 I love this Tired Girl idea. I plan to add this pizza meal to my rotation.

At my house, my most sleepy dinner is called “pick-ups”, and basically I tell my husband to pick up and eat whatever he likes – it’s every man and Tired Girl for themselves night – clean out the fridge night – a night where you mingle split pea soup, with a chicken leg, a leftover BBQ rib, and day old brown rice. This pizza idea could focus the fridge cleaning out process and wrap it in cheese.

Anyone else want to share their – I’m so pooped I could cry – dinner?

Passwords -

I have two or three passwords I use for everything online.  I understand that this is not the most cracker jack security system, but I am not sure why anyone would want to hack my Panera account (well probably to steal the points I have earned toward a free bearclaw). 

Obviously my paypal and bank accounts have unique passwords and are slightly more complicated.  But otherwise almost everything fits into two or three other passwords.  That way when I am trying to be good at the internet I pretty much won’t ever lock myself out of anything.  Try password #1 – doesn’t work, try password #2 and then I’m in.

 

I assume some organized people have these account/password combos programmed in their phone in code or something, or committed to memory – but that is not me.  My resources need to stay in my brain and be ready to go at any moment. You never know when you will need to access your library account in an emergency.

Foods you are good at!

A-list foods to create with minimal energy are a necessity for this Tired Girl.  I hate go on about this repertoire thing (especially since there are no good synonyms so I just keep using that word), but not only do I have a list of gifts that work for me I also have a list of foods.  These are items I have perfected, can make in my sleep and chances are I have all of the ingredients for - at any given moment.  Here are the categories of fav foods I have to serve or bring (this list is in my in my head so when a pot luck type sign-up sheet is passed around I know exactly what I want to write down):

 - An easy and yummy dip

 - A cookie and brownie recipe

 - A casserole

 - A yummy salad

 - Favorite cheese and cracker combo

 - A favorite fruit to serve or bring

 - A low maintenance appetizer

I also have a list of go-to items I can purchase that I know are yummy and I am mostly proud to show up with.  These are the reliable items that people are happy to eat when you have run out of time, but have to bring something somewhere – this is the type of  occasion where you have more money than time  and to make up for the fact that I am bring something store bought I have picked out a decadent or gourmet item that is fun and no one can turn away from.  I want MY food to get eaten all up at any occasion – isn’t there a weird pride in that??  It’s called “empty-plate syndrome” and I have it.  These trustworthy items are easy for me (mostly because I have made them so many times) and typically a big hit.