Sunday, February 4, 2018

January 2018 Most Favorite Things -

Tired Girl's Most Favorite Things in January 2018

1. Halos/Cuties - I love these little oranges and strangely they are super multi-functional to me. Here are a few reasons why I am obsessed with a small piece of fruit. 
When my kitchen is neat they have a very like "this person has her whole life together look" while sitting in a bowl in my kitchen. Like maybe my whacky kitchen would be in a real magazine, and not a weird issue of Messy-Kitchen Anonymous or something. 

They also taste good and feel like a little treat since I'm trying to be healthy and keep my sugar habit in check.


After I peel and eat it, I wet the peel and rub it all over my hands and it makes my hands smell good and feel super clean. I don't have weirdly smelly hands or anything it just feels good. 
Then I break up the peel and put half of them in my disposal and it makes my whole kitchen smell good. I don't have a weirdly smelly kitchen or anything, but still. The leftover peel I put in a ziploc bag in the freezer and I drop into my disposal through out the week. 

Voila. If you are not in to eclectic then you would hate my home. So just pretend you like this please. 

2. A smoothie for breakfast. Last summer (and fall and winter) things were a little too busy for my taste - the world required more of me than I prefer and I went in to deep survival mode.  Just live dammit. I was too overwhelmed to throw things in a blender, smoosh it up and drink it. But I realized after a few months of not drinking this smoothie that I didn't feel as well all day, and that I was starting to gain weight (all the glorious 12 pounds I lost last year were in jeopardy). Even when I tried to be healthy and boil some eggs for breakfast or something I noticed I was hungry again quickly. When I drank my smoothie I could power through more hours of the day without engaging in one of my favorite past-times of planning my next meal. 
As you may or may not know I am not so great with measurements, so I'm sorry that this recipe is loose. 
Here is my smoothie recipe:
  • A couple of handfuls of raw spinach, or kale, or a mixture from Sam's called "Power Medley." 
  • SOME plain kefir - not sure how much. Just like some
  • A little of bit water. I need more liquid to smoosh up the greens and I am too cheap to put in too much kefir, and it's a calorie saver too. 
  • I blend the greens and liquid until there aren't many clumps.
  • Then I add in about 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries.
  • A scoop of Raw Fit Vanilla flavored protein powder.
  • A scoop of "Vibrance" in pineapple/citrus flavor. (This stuff is less expensive and just as good as the same brand called "Green Vibrance" according to my guy at my health food store. 
  • A scoop of this turmeric stuff. (Supposedly turmeric has to be consumerd with black pepper, cherry or coconut oil to get the full effects. Who has time for all these dang rules?)
  • And I sprinkle in some flax seed.
  • Sometimes I put in powdered collagen even though my guy at the health food store told me it was pointless. I already have it and maybe my body works differently, scientifically, then the rest of the world and it will work. 
  • Sometimes I put in half of a frozen banana because it makes it taste really good and smooth, but I try to not to eat too much sugar so I only do this sometimes
  • I blend all of that. 
  • It is an unpleasant brown color because of the blueberries and greens.
  • This makes a big cup and I drink it all.
At one point I figured out what the caloric intake was all of this, but I can't find my calculations and apparently the final number didn't mean much to me. But it isn't bad. 

This process is actually easy for me because I have been doing it a long time and I've internalized it. I don't need variety. I just like this. When life allows I like to make several days at a time and store in glass jars. It doesn't taste as good as the first day, but it tastes like "already made" which is a flavor I really like.  

The protein powder may taste a little chalky but I'm used to it. It tastes healthy to me. Lifeway kefir is cheaper than some of the other brands that taste better but I don't care. I choose quantity over quality in this case. 

3. Eating the frog - I am an intense animal lover, so I don't appreciate this idiom. But I love the idea. It's a quote from Mark Twain and the point is if you have something you are dreading (like eating a frog I guess - bleh), then do it first thing in the morning and get it over worth. It's a testament to not procrastinating about the hardest thing on your calendar. Get it done early and fast. Here's an article that I enjoyed and agree with: Eat That Frog.  I have developed a healthy addiction to getting the hardest things on my to-do list done first thing when possible.  Watch out world. 
I channel my inner inspirational speaker when I do the worst thing on my to-do list first thing in the morning. 


4. Wal-Mart Cotton Sleep Pants - 
 They are inexpensive, come in cute patterns with trim, and wear well. I have a bought a few each season and they are some of my favorite sleep pants. 
Here they are online, but they seem to have limited patterns and availability so your store would be your best bet. If you are not in to shopping at Wal-Mart, here are my thoughts in case you care (or are stuck someplace and need something to do). 


Monday, January 1, 2018

December Most Favorites -

Tired Girl's Most Favorite Things in December
These may be just the things that make your life amazing in the new year. Or not.  


1. My Stihl Leaf Blower - Don't effing start with me about sweeping leaves.  If you do, I will give you an account of the gallons of places I still have to sweep, and why I need this leaf blower to make the front of my house look like humans, and not animals, live here. I am TERRIBLE at using it however - like one wrong move and leaves are everywhere and I give up and go inside. But when I'm focused I blow the leaves that accumulate at the front of my house in the right way to make my place look neat. Truth is I have mastered blowing leaves under my car and calling it a day.  I like this model, because it's teeny and light weight, but has enough power to do what I want - blow leaves away from my house to another part of my house. 
There she is. 
People online are insanely mad about how crappy they think this thing is - maybe they didn't read that is is lightweight with light power for small properties. It's like a dustbuster. But for what it's worth - I love it. Here is one that is similar on Amazon.  
Honestly the before and after photos I took to show my hubs originally, isn't that dramatic. But I recently blew leaves away, so I can't recreate a better before and after.
Just pretend this is great.

Warm Beige

2. NYX Stay Matte But Not Flat Powder - I live in Florida and I have oily skin, so I often look "dewy," but not the good kind. When I went on TV a few years back to cook my turkey meatballs, I researched TV makeup and came up with this. I was crazed to be armed with anything that would help me not look shiny on TV, so I wasn't picky about the color. I had one choice at my local CVS I think - Warm Beige - and it works for me and my medium toned skin (I am not fair or tan, I am not sure if I have pink or yellow undertones). Ulta often has NYX brand on sale for buy one get one free or half off or something. So I hoard it. 
Me getting miked up on TV and not looking shiny. Video here.
3. Any nude colored nail polish - This fall (and the last ten years of my life) kicked my butt. I needed to look put together with the smidgest of efforts and nude polish does that for me - it's very forgiving. Who has time for their toes? Lots of people, but weirdly not me. These colors make me look finished, but don't draw attention to the hooves I call my feet. 
Two faves are - "Barefoot and Topless," "Master Plan." But "Ballet Slippers" and "Sand Tropez" look good too. For someone whose nails often look pretty rough, I talk about polish a lot. #trynabebetter 
You know the drill - these are not my hands. #notahandmodel
4. Low expectations - I have created a life where friends and family expect me to be loving, but don't expect too much more from me. The smallest accomplishment or activity and I get accolades. I may host Thanksgiving, but it's a group effort to set the table and my guests commended me for such a pretty table setting, because they must have just been excited that I had a tablecloth on hand. Even my neighbors yell "Hey the Tired Girl is weeding," when they drive by.  So yeah, this is working for me. 


Husband cooking, and dad and friend
setting the table for Thanksgiving dinner.
5. Coarse, high-quality, salt bought in a grinder -  How old lady is this one? But really, there is no need to laboriously pour coarse salt into our own salt grinders. Unless your salt and pepper set is really cute and you just love it. But otherwise it's cheap and easy to just buy good salt already in a grinder. My two pictured here happen to be pink Himalayan something or other, but lots of good kinds at the grocery store and at Marshall's. I bought the little one at Publix (and swear it wasn't much - like $2) and took the label off so it would look cute sitting on my counter. The bigger one was purchased at Marshall's and will be de-labeled when I am finally out of the little one. The price tag shows it is two dollars cheaper at Marshall's than Amazon here
My photos in this post are off the chart boring.

I know you know what  an
Apple watch looks like,
but here's a pic of mine anyway.

6. My Apple Watch-
 It may be a $300 timer, but I love my $300 timer. I've had it for a year and I wear it every day.  I like to see my action, it helps me navigate in my car, and I time eighty million different things in a day. Dry my jeans for 5 minutes, fill the pool up for 5 minutes, do jumping jacks for 5 minutes (HA! Just kidding - one minute), clean the house for one hour, stand and work for 30 minutes - you get the idea. My life is better with a timer strapped to my arm.  
I don't talk through my watch like a phone, and I haven't explored a lot of other apps, so I'm probs missing out. 



7. Dog Mom Rap - It's old, and dumb, but I love it. I have added the version here with lyrics, so if you don't want to listen, you can just read what a ballad from dog moms is all about it. Quote of the piece - "You're amazing." 

Anyone have anything appropriate they are obsessed with right now? 

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