In Which I Attempt to Freeze Spinach...

To prep for my Thanksgiving vacation, I decided to use or preserve whatever would get moldy in my fridge. The main item to consider was a 3/4 full bag of spinach. After some research, I found it was "easy" to freeze spinach to use later for smoothies or whatever else I guess.

I was able to follow the directions fairly well. Boiling water- no prob. Dumping in spinach- piece of cake. Set timer for two minutes- yep. Colander and cold water ready to go- rockin this!

And then comes the drying. I'm neither fancy nor married (both indicators of a plethora of kitchen gadgets), so I don't have a salad spinner. No worries, they give an option for a makeshift-tea-towel-salad spinner.

I quoth- "Drain your spinach then place in a tea towel. bring up the corners of the towel forming a sort of sack of spinach. Give it a whirl. Go ahead and spin it around. The water will be spun out into the towel."

Seems simple enough. My spinach fell in one big soggy flop onto the tea towel, I gathered up the corners and gave it a whirl. I went ahead and spun it around.


LOL.


I have a large kitchen. Why wouldn't a single girl need a 14' x 14' space to warm up bean burritos? The flying spinach juice that resulted from my makeshift-tea-towel salad spinner managed to get in every random nook and cranny of my large kitchen it could find.


So I decided to just pat dry my spinach. At this point, my tea towel was turning bright green and I noticed that wet spinach smells a lot like wet dog. Ehhww. I tossed the stuff in a freezer bag. Hope if freezes ok!


Word of advice- don't try the tea-towel-salad spinner unless you need an excuse to clean the fronts of ALL of your cabinets.

Single People are Ruining the Economy, Again

CNN posted an article yesterday about adult children moving back in with their parents and how this is negatively affecting the housing market. They report that 19% of males aged 25-34 live with their parents and 10% of females in the same age group live at home. (Side note: males aged 25-34 is my dating demographic, and apparently 1/5 still live at home. Should I be concerned?)

The article attributes adults living at home to unemployment. I disagree. I would attribute adults living at home to this demographic experiencing a lot of life uncertainty, a need for everyday life support and the general philosophy of, "Um, wow. This wasn't the plan. What do I do now?"

The plan was to go to college for four years, marry "The One", backpack through Europe for a summer, graduate, both get $40K jobs straight out of college, move to the suburbs, buy a house, experience domestic bliss for several years, shell out 2.5 kids, maybe get a dog, buy a mini-van, coach the soccer team, get a promotion or two, take family vacations to Yellowstone, etc.

But that didn't happen. For most, college took 5-6 years, "The One" married someone else, there's $20K-100K in student loans and $10K in credit card debt, the best job offer out of college was $30K/no health insurance in an area with a ridiculous cost of living, the crappy college roommate moved out with all your furniture and the car needs a new set of tires.

Um, yeah, you move back in with Mom & Dad! At this point, home ownership is the last thing on your mind. The article says, "The economy as a whole suffers when young adults fail to venture out on their own." This wouldn't be the first time single people have been blamed for all kinds of evils. But seriously CNN, how are just-out-of-college single people supposed to know where we want to establish ourselves, let alone have enough money for a down payment? Most of us are just starting out with our jobs, and we know we don't have the financial, professional and relational stability required to set up roots in a community and buy a home.

Buying a home is extremely expensive and requires a huge amount of work for care and upkeep. One can get roommates to help with the cost, but managing a mixed bag of personalities and lifestyles to achieve a liveable house dynamic requires time and effort.

Living with the parents offers a measure of stability and division of labor that otherwise doesn't exist for a single person. Single people have to do everything themselves (married people, please appreciate your spouse for their part in your division of labor!!!!!!!!!!): work, housework, meal planning, cooking, repairs, car maintenance, bills, financial planning, laundry, cleaning, yard work, errands, everything. Having a living situation where some of these aspects can be shared makes life much, much easier. Even as a renter, I outsource yard work, housing maintenance and appliance repair.

I'd argue that moving back in with your parents is the responsible thing to do in some situations. I lived with my parents for about six months after college then ventured out on my own. But what do I know? I'm a single 25-34 year old who hasn't purchased a home yet, thus I apparently have a hand in wrecking the economy. Too bad I don't feel more responsible; I was too busy enjoying my spacious one bedroom apartment with vaulted ceilings and a lack of Saturday yard work.

The Green Smoothie

Amy at New Nostalgia has posted several times about The Green Smoothie. Everytime I read about it, my mind said, "Um, that looks kinda weird" while my body said, "I want to eat that!!!" I'm not a spinach fan, or a banana fan, and I typically think of freakishly huge body builders when protein powder is introduced. Besides, I'm healthy, but I'm not THAT healthy.

However, I figured I should probably listen to my body on this one, so I decided to give it a shot.

The recipe-

2 large handfuls of baby spinach (about 2 cups)

1 cup soy milk (or milk of choice-coconut, almond, dairy, I saw oat milk?)

1 banana

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 cup ice

2 tbls chia seeds (optional, I haven't added any yet since I find seeds to be slightly scary for some reason.)

 

Pulvarize everything in a blender except the ice, then add the ice & blend a bit more.

First stop- the grocery store. What do you know? Organic baby spinach was on sale cheaper than the other stuff. Win! I had to pause a bit in front of the protein powder, but eventually found a non-intimidating, no-naked-people-on-the-front soy protein that has a TON of calcium in it too. Osteoporosis runs in the family, so calcium is always good. I picked up the rest of the ingredients plus some probiotic yogurt for my morning snacks, felt like a ridiculous health-nut then slipped some pepperoni into my basket (turkey pepperoni at least!) just to make sure I was still a (somewhat) normal person.

And then I got to pull out my RED blender. I got it for my 21st birthday from one set of grandparents (Accompanied by margarita mix. The other set of grandparents took me to a casino. Reason #4,578 I have the best grandparents ever!).

The recipe makes more than I thought it would. I had to pull out my 32 oz big gulp cup from Kwik Shop to fit it all. And it is pretty dang tasty! I'm happy knowing I'm getting the nutrients of raw spinach without having to actually eat it.

It's been easy to drink on my way to work the past two days, and I'm hoping I get the "glow" that Amy talked about. What's not fun about "glowing" especially when a red blender & a big gulp cup are involved?

KJ's Guide To: Shoving things under the rug and burning the rug

I only have three emotions.

1. Happy
2. Neutral
3. Frustrated

Just kidding. But seriously, it's kinda true. Frustration (aka stress, anger, exasperation, etc.) usually just gets internalized and manifests itself in anxiety and digestive disorders. This is quite uncomfortable and counterproductive, so I do whatever it takes to get back to neutral or happy.

Typically, when someone is going through stressful stuff that is occupying the mind, causing loss of sleep and generally getting in the way of life, I think the suggested advice is to "talk to someone about it." This helps with processing; I do it on a regular basis. However, there are some problems with this.

1. I don't always like talking to people.
2. I don't always know what exactly is bothering me.
3. When I'm frustrated, I'm usually mad at someone but will get over it before too long. Bringing someone else in on that loop has the chance of damaging other peoples' relationships. 
4. Just talking to someone about the problem won't make that boy like me, won't fix the stressful situation at work, won't make the friend apologize and won't make a relationship situation any easier.
5. Life needs to go on regardless of the stressful situation.

So I've come up with an excellent method of returning myself to neutral sanity that is essentially shoving the issue under the rug and burning the rug. Another way of phrasing it: jump-starting the process of "just get over it." These are sequential and go in order. I'm not a psychologist and make no claims to be an expert, so I accept no responsibility for any professional medical or mental health advice that this might contradict.

1. Exercise until borderline exhaustion. This will probably take 30-90 minutes. Pick an activity that is medium-high intensity and really go for it. Keep going. And keep going some more. Keep going until you can barely think anymore (Once upon a few months ago, I was quite frustrated with a boy. I did a kickboxing class. And then did 30 minutes on a cardio machine at a super-high level. And then lifted weights. I got home and was still thinking too much, so I ran three miles. That finally did it! I do have a higher internal energy level than most people, but you've got to do whatever it takes). Seriously, this is an incredibly important step because it helps out with #3.
2. Eat a full, well-balanced meal. For me, it's best to eat a meal that primarily consists of lean protein, fruits and veggies. The temptation while stressed is to eat fat and sugar. But what's that going to do? It'll probably make you feel guilty for over-indulging in crap-food which really won't help get over the situation at hand. So eat some healthy stuff that actually helps your body out with no guilt trips.
3. Get a good night's sleep. To quote The Bourne Identity (the book), "Sleep is a weapon." A well-rested mind and body is a beautiful thing and can really assist in approaching situations with a fresh, renewed perspective. Different people have different sleep needs; you know your body best.

That's it in a nutshell! A few times I've had to do this two days in a row. After that, I'm usually good. But just in case, here are a few additional things to try.

• Go easy on stimulants and depressants like caffeine and alcohol. They alter moods and can cause over-reactions.
• Drink lots of water.
• After your good night's sleep, get dressed in a smashing outfit you feet confident and attractive in. Wear make-up! Accessorize! I typically bust out a pair of confidence-inspiring heels for work. Like these (not my feet)-

  So if you're in the position where you just need to get over something, give it a shot!

Getting Healthier in a Month

No, I'm not having a body image crisis. No, I don't think I'm fat. No, I have not developed an eating disorder.

However, following my super-duper intense 14er training this summer and successfully summiting seven 14ers, my level of fitness has indeed slipped. When one is consuming the same amount of food as when training, but no longer training, things happen.

I wasn't concerned until the jeans started feeling a bit tight despite exercising most days of the week. Time to get back into some healthier routines! This is good since my group of girl friends is going to be the Spice Girls for Halloween and I got recruited for Sporty Spice. While I have no desire to emulate the mid-1990's version of anorexic-sportyness, there is room for improvement and a whole month to get there!

I googled losing five pounds in a month (figuring that goal relies more on healthy lifestyle and less on crash dieting/cleanses/maple syrup concoctions/strange teas/weird supplements/"Follow This One Weird Tip!"/snake oil/etc.) and found a pretty good article with some simple tips. For me, seeing the math behind calories is a huge motivator for self-control. I love numbers! Each of these ideas is pretty straightforward and very do-able in everyday life since sadly, there is no magic solution.

1. Ditch alcohol: I'm not a huge drinker, but let's figure in a week, I typically consume 2 light beers (~100 calories each), 2 real beers (~150 calories each), 1 glass of wine (~100 calories), and 1 double mixed drink (~400 calories. If it's an 8 oz margarita, ~560 calories. Ouch!). Right there, I'm consuming between 1000-1160 calories in alcoholic beverages a week. Math time! Four weeks of skipping alcohol will save me 4000-4640 calories. 
2. Skip junk: I don't eat a lot of junk food, but I have lots of room to make healthier choices. Time for some serious discipline! Part of this for me will be skipping pop as well. I drink 2-3 servings of pop a week, but that still adds up to 300-450 calories. In a month, that's 1200-1800 calories. 
3. Eat more fiber, drink more water: Fiber is magical. It acts as a gut filler to help prevent hunger and also helps move things along. Drinking water also helps with both! Plus, we often eat when we're actually thirsty, so drinking lots of water will help out with that too. One healthy lifestyle challenge I did a while back set a goal of drinking 3 liters a day. That's a lot of water, but also a great goal to shoot for. For fiber, I'll be upping my whole grains, fruits and veggies.

So we'll see how this goes. Goal: Sporty Spice! I also need to find a wig and a temporary armband tattoo in the next month. 

The Stuff/Time Parallel

This blog began about two years ago when I first started seriously considering graduate school.  At the time, I was envisioning being a full-time student and living on half my income, so simplification seemed like great preparation!  However, things took a different course, and now I'm doing grad school online (through a reputable univeristy) and working full-time.  I don't need to simplify the finances, I need to simplify time!

However, many of the principles for minimizing stuff and purchases are also applicable to minimizing activities and time commitments.

My philosophy for possessions and purchasing is "Don't own stuff you don't like." Slightly tweaked for time commitments, this would be "Don't do stuff you don't like." Just typing that, I'm thinking, "Well duh, why would I do something I don't like?" It happens all the time though. We all have to do some stuff we don't like (emptying the dishwasher, getting the oil changed, etc.), but for discretionary time, we do often decide to spend our time doing things we don't like for various reasons. The biggest reason though is the general inability to say "no" to activities. Other people are exceedingly good at manipulating our time since it's not often treated like the valuable commodity that it really is.

One of the aspects I group into my overall stuff philosophy is not owning stuff that gives you a bad attitude or brings out bad memories. The same goes for time commitments. There's no point in engaging in activities that bring you down, make you mad, or otherwise cause general frustration. Sometime this could be the activity itself, sometimes it could be the people we're doing it with. Is that unfriendly, mean and kinda selfish? Yes. But it's my time, I get to chose!

So- first tier for me minimizing activities: "Do I like this activity?"

Another principle of stuff-and-things minimizing is examining the return on investment on objects. Relating this to time commitments, I get to analyze the return on investment of my activities. What activities are moving me forward in my personal and professional goals? What activities help me adequately rest and relax? What activities are simply time sucks? What activities help other people?

Second tier: "Does this activity actually benefit me or someone else?"

Living in a world with little time margin available, the business principle of opportunity cost comes into play. In the world of purchasing, opportunity cost means "By buying this item, what am I giving up the opportunity to buy?" So with time management this translates to "By pursuing this activity, what other activities am I giving up?" This is one of the hardest principles for me to follow. I can talk myself out of buying just about anything because I know I'd rather spend money on something else. But thinking "I need to forego a gathering of friends so I can finish this school project" is quite hard. Friends are way more fun!

Third tier: "Is doing this activity going to cost doing other important activities?"

In terms of practical application, here's what I've boiled my activities down to in the last few months:

Work
School
Working out
Daily life chores
Select friend gatherings

Anything else happens on an as-needed, convenience basis (including blogging, heh, sorry). It's a bit draconian at times and I've had to start saying "no" to activities, thus causing a few moments of "I'm a terrible person!" but it's really been ok. I'll catch up in 2.5 years or so when the Masters is done :)

Frickin Good Chicken

We already had a family recipe called “Mmm Good Chicken” so I had to name this something else.  The primary flavor contributor is hot sauce, so caution: it’s spicy.

Ingredients (measurements left up to your own inspiration)

Chicken breasts (I cut mine into strips)
Sriracha Hot Sauce
Olive Oil
Ginger (powdered or for real)

Mix the Sriracha, oil, & ginger in a glass container or a plastic bag.  Add chicken and stir to completely coat.  Marinate for 30+ minutes.  Fire up the grill (George Foreman!!!!)  and cook until done.  The original recipe suggests serving on hummus but I used refried black beans & it was quite good.  

It was also seriously good on some leafy greens with ranch dressing.