This one time, I made this sauce. And then I liked it. So I wrote it down.
Ingredients:
1 lb burger (grass fed actually tastes better, believe it or not)
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 tsp (2 cloves) minced garlic
28 oz can diced tomatoes
12 oz can tomato sauce
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 Tbs olive oil, separated
salt
garlic salt
Italian seasoning
Instructions:
1. Sprinkle burger liberally with salt, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning
2. Add 1 Tbs oil to pan over medium heat burger until cooked through. Set aside.
3. Add 1 Tbs oil to pan over medium heat and add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is clear and garlic toasted.
4. Stir in tomato sauce and tomatoes, measured spices (salt and Italian seasoning) brown sugar, and vinegar.
5. Stir in burger and simmer until heated.
6. Enjoy!
28 February 2017
23 February 2017
tmi
"I think exercise is my brass serpent on the pole."
Excuse me while I rinse my mouth out.
I'm trying to love it, though. Really, I am. I posted a sticky-note on my bathroom mirror that says "I love to exercise" and I read it to myself... when I remember to. This morning I went to my first water Zumba class and actually liked it a lot. Some of the moves stretched my back out and I felt more mobile all morning and well into the afternoon.
For real, though, if exercise is the only thing I've needed to do this whole time just to keep my back happy I'm going to kick myself so hard.
Moving on:
I haven't shaved my legs in weeks, probably months. I haven't shaved my armpits in quite a few days, either. And I went swimming like this. In public. When it is painful to bend over and one's husband is doing all he can to keep up with school and work, one would feel rude asking him to help shave one's legs. So I look like Sasquatch. So what? Here is my list of very legitimate reasons not to shave:
1. it breaks stereotypes and social expectations
2. I'm trying to be more like Katniss
3. it's convenient
4. it's a subtle push back against pornography "ideals"
5. I can't, anyway
6. no more razor burn and waking up with bloody fingernails from scratching in my sleep
7. my husband doesn't really care
8. other people don't really care
9. I don't really care if other ladies don't shave
10. hairy legs don't change my feminine soul
Next topic:
Let's get more serious for a bit. I want to share a mantra that without a doubt was the most helpful realization I had when I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder and trying to come to terms with the wacko things demon-Sarah was doing behind my back before I was on proper medication.
"You're not in trouble for being broken."
The Atonement of Christ covers oopsies and uh-ohs and things I regret doing. It can wipe clean the slate as long as I keep fighting to stay on His side.
And, finally:
The "All or Nothing Mentality" that is so destructive. Here are a couple phrases that have become commonplace that reflect this mentality. Warning: believing these may cause severe progression paralysis.
1. "Go big or go home"
2. "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well"
Props if you are the type of personality that thrives on shooting for that high bar. For the rest of us, let's adopt something more like this:
1. "Go at your best pace and don't give up"
2. "If something is worth doing, it is worth learning all you can about it and practicing every day until you are a pro"
Excuse me while I rinse my mouth out.
I'm trying to love it, though. Really, I am. I posted a sticky-note on my bathroom mirror that says "I love to exercise" and I read it to myself... when I remember to. This morning I went to my first water Zumba class and actually liked it a lot. Some of the moves stretched my back out and I felt more mobile all morning and well into the afternoon.
For real, though, if exercise is the only thing I've needed to do this whole time just to keep my back happy I'm going to kick myself so hard.
Moving on:
I haven't shaved my legs in weeks, probably months. I haven't shaved my armpits in quite a few days, either. And I went swimming like this. In public. When it is painful to bend over and one's husband is doing all he can to keep up with school and work, one would feel rude asking him to help shave one's legs. So I look like Sasquatch. So what? Here is my list of very legitimate reasons not to shave:
1. it breaks stereotypes and social expectations
2. I'm trying to be more like Katniss
3. it's convenient
4. it's a subtle push back against pornography "ideals"
5. I can't, anyway
6. no more razor burn and waking up with bloody fingernails from scratching in my sleep
7. my husband doesn't really care
8. other people don't really care
9. I don't really care if other ladies don't shave
10. hairy legs don't change my feminine soul
Next topic:
Let's get more serious for a bit. I want to share a mantra that without a doubt was the most helpful realization I had when I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder and trying to come to terms with the wacko things demon-Sarah was doing behind my back before I was on proper medication.
"You're not in trouble for being broken."
The Atonement of Christ covers oopsies and uh-ohs and things I regret doing. It can wipe clean the slate as long as I keep fighting to stay on His side.
And, finally:
The "All or Nothing Mentality" that is so destructive. Here are a couple phrases that have become commonplace that reflect this mentality. Warning: believing these may cause severe progression paralysis.
1. "Go big or go home"
2. "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well"
Props if you are the type of personality that thrives on shooting for that high bar. For the rest of us, let's adopt something more like this:
1. "Go at your best pace and don't give up"
2. "If something is worth doing, it is worth learning all you can about it and practicing every day until you are a pro"
20 February 2017
toast
My favorite toppings:
apricot jam and chopped pecans
peanut butter and cinnamon sugar
sliced avocado and salt
apricot jam and chopped pecans
peanut butter and cinnamon sugar
sliced avocado and salt
16 February 2017
snippets of thought
The wolf doesn't even need to come in a sheepskin anymore. People welcome him in decked in his bow tie and coat tails.
If someone is uncomfortable with a topic and trying to lighten the mood, listen carefully to what they say right before they say, "just kidding," because that may be as close to the truth as they will dare to come.
I have conversations in my head with famous people. I want to practice in case I ever meet them so that I don't come across as a wilty fan girl. Famous people always die before you get a chance to meet them, though.
Everyone else is faking it, too.
Talent is spelled T-A-L-E-N-T, but it grows from the fertile soil of hard work.
Desserts spelled backwards is S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D, which is why it is important to eat healthy.
If someone is uncomfortable with a topic and trying to lighten the mood, listen carefully to what they say right before they say, "just kidding," because that may be as close to the truth as they will dare to come.
I have conversations in my head with famous people. I want to practice in case I ever meet them so that I don't come across as a wilty fan girl. Famous people always die before you get a chance to meet them, though.
Everyone else is faking it, too.
Talent is spelled T-A-L-E-N-T, but it grows from the fertile soil of hard work.
Desserts spelled backwards is S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D, which is why it is important to eat healthy.
13 February 2017
sauerkraut recipe
[insert giant life story and lots of pictures here]
... and now for... The Recipe!
Sarah's Colorful Kraut
Ingredients:
1 head purple cabbage, small
10-11 carrots, med to lg
1 sweet onion
1 head garlic
3 Tbs Himalayan sea salt
Also needed:
2 1-qt jars
2 plastic quart jar lids
cheese grater and knife or food processor
kitchen gloves (optional)
jar funnel (optional)
Instructions:
1. Set aside two large cabbage leaves. Finely chop the rest of the cabbage and onion, grate carrots, and mince garlic.
2. In a large bowl, alternate layers of veggies and salt. Knead salt into veggies with hands until there is enough brine to cover veggies in jars.
3. Fill both quart jars with veggie mixture and pour brine over top. (May use funnel, it makes it a little easier)
4. Using cabbage leaves set aside earlier, use one per jar to cover and push down veggies below the brine. Tightly screw lids on.
5. Leave jars on counter for 6-8 days or until sauerkraut has a tangy "pickle-like" taste and crunch. Can leave out longer to develop flavor. Be sure to loosen lids to 'burp' the jars every couple of days. Once the flavor is where you want it, store in the fridge. It keeps for a long time. (I'm using some now that I made 5 1/2 months ago and it's great.)
6. Enjoy!
When I first made sauerkraut, I was kind of like "what the heck do I eat this with?" Here are some ideas my friends and I have done:
Add it to grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.
Mix with tuna salad. It makes it pink! (from Katie R.)
Drop a couple forkfuls in soup.
Eat right out of the jar!
Finely slice bell peppers or other veggies and mix sauerkraut in as a salad.
Use anywhere you'd normally use pickles.
I feel obligated to add a picture.
I'm not going to.
... and now for... The Recipe!
Sarah's Colorful Kraut
Ingredients:
1 head purple cabbage, small
10-11 carrots, med to lg
1 sweet onion
1 head garlic
3 Tbs Himalayan sea salt
Also needed:
2 1-qt jars
2 plastic quart jar lids
cheese grater and knife or food processor
kitchen gloves (optional)
jar funnel (optional)
Instructions:
1. Set aside two large cabbage leaves. Finely chop the rest of the cabbage and onion, grate carrots, and mince garlic.
2. In a large bowl, alternate layers of veggies and salt. Knead salt into veggies with hands until there is enough brine to cover veggies in jars.
3. Fill both quart jars with veggie mixture and pour brine over top. (May use funnel, it makes it a little easier)
4. Using cabbage leaves set aside earlier, use one per jar to cover and push down veggies below the brine. Tightly screw lids on.
5. Leave jars on counter for 6-8 days or until sauerkraut has a tangy "pickle-like" taste and crunch. Can leave out longer to develop flavor. Be sure to loosen lids to 'burp' the jars every couple of days. Once the flavor is where you want it, store in the fridge. It keeps for a long time. (I'm using some now that I made 5 1/2 months ago and it's great.)
6. Enjoy!
When I first made sauerkraut, I was kind of like "what the heck do I eat this with?" Here are some ideas my friends and I have done:
Add it to grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.
Mix with tuna salad. It makes it pink! (from Katie R.)
Drop a couple forkfuls in soup.
Eat right out of the jar!
Finely slice bell peppers or other veggies and mix sauerkraut in as a salad.
Use anywhere you'd normally use pickles.
I feel obligated to add a picture.
I'm not going to.
09 February 2017
art style
YouTube will be the death of me. Either because I starve from watching too much or because I literally die of failure-at-life syndrome.
There are many YouTube videos out there from artists who talk about "finding your style" as an artist. None of them have been helpful to me so far because they tell me to just keep on creating and my style will come. That's not helpful when I don't know where to start with the actual creating. Being creative means feeling an urge or desire to create. I wanted to know what "style" was because from there I could go on to define my own and have a starting point for my creativity.
Here is what I've come up with: Artistic style is the sum total of all the rules you make up for your own creative process. The rules you make up are a combination of things you like, and things you can do, which is why style is still a very organic thing that changes and morphs over time. Things you like change. Ways you create change depending on things you learn or new things that inspire you.
Examples:
Thick lines versus thin versus variable.
Black on white.
Perfect repeating symmetry versus balanced asymmetry versus complete randomness.
Curvy women versus wisps.
Always drawing feet with no toes.
Hyper-realism versus abstract versus a combination of each.
White on black.
People versus animals versus plants.
Cartoons with big ears or big feet.
Realistic animals in unrealistic situations.
Choice of medium: endless variations and combinations.
Super size versus notepad versus miniature and everything in between.
3D versus flat
Photo reference versus making it up.
Monochromatic.
Bring in the metallic colors.
Stick figures with hilarious speech bubbles.
Slam poetry versus orchestra music.
Get messy during the process versus cleanliness.
Wear cozy clothes versus wear no clothes.
Storm clouds versus sunshine on dew drops.
Peppermint versus cherry.
Bold colors versus soft
Convenient versus time consuming.
I love lists. I could probably go on all day. Have fun discovering your own style.
There are many YouTube videos out there from artists who talk about "finding your style" as an artist. None of them have been helpful to me so far because they tell me to just keep on creating and my style will come. That's not helpful when I don't know where to start with the actual creating. Being creative means feeling an urge or desire to create. I wanted to know what "style" was because from there I could go on to define my own and have a starting point for my creativity.
Here is what I've come up with: Artistic style is the sum total of all the rules you make up for your own creative process. The rules you make up are a combination of things you like, and things you can do, which is why style is still a very organic thing that changes and morphs over time. Things you like change. Ways you create change depending on things you learn or new things that inspire you.
Examples:
Thick lines versus thin versus variable.
Black on white.
Perfect repeating symmetry versus balanced asymmetry versus complete randomness.
Curvy women versus wisps.
Always drawing feet with no toes.
Hyper-realism versus abstract versus a combination of each.
White on black.
People versus animals versus plants.
Cartoons with big ears or big feet.
Realistic animals in unrealistic situations.
Choice of medium: endless variations and combinations.
Super size versus notepad versus miniature and everything in between.
3D versus flat
Photo reference versus making it up.
Monochromatic.
Bring in the metallic colors.
Stick figures with hilarious speech bubbles.
Slam poetry versus orchestra music.
Get messy during the process versus cleanliness.
Wear cozy clothes versus wear no clothes.
Storm clouds versus sunshine on dew drops.
Peppermint versus cherry.
Bold colors versus soft
Convenient versus time consuming.
I love lists. I could probably go on all day. Have fun discovering your own style.
02 February 2017
late bloomers
Can't think of a catchy first line.
This is a post about how lame my husband and I are together.
Also a reason why I shouldn't watch people's success stories on YouTube until after I, myself have had success. As per my post last week, there is far too long a list of things I enjoy doing accompanied by an increasing feeling of being left behind by my generation because I'm not actually doing anything about the things I like to do.
Confession: I never liked horses as much as I pretended to when I was a child.
The sister just younger than I was big into horses. She was also the preferred child because I was crazy and we didn't know why yet, so I felt strong compulsion to be first and be better than her. The day she announced she loved horses, I loved them more. (It didn't end until after I left for college, either. The day she decided to play flute, I picked it up and was playing at an intermediate level within two days. She decided to play bassoon instead. I never tried to keep up with her athletics, though. I got fat while she got soccer-chick thighs. I was a passive-aggressive sort of competitive, she was a knock-you-down sort.)
I watched YouTube videos about why Lena Danya and Happy D Artist chose to make art their career. Both of them said it was something they had been doing and loved since they were a child. I've been thinking about how I was as a child. I can remember some things. I spent my time riding stick horses, playing with stuffed animals, swimming in a ditch, crying so hard I passed out, keeping my little sister away from my own friends, drawing horses (well, more unicorns and pegasi than horses) and dragons, throwing fits where I would tear my hair out, playing in our sand box, riding horses, playing horses on my fists and knees until I got rug burnt knees, being so mad I bit my hands, tucking my shirt in and wearing a belt, being secretive about which boy I liked (it was only one, all through elementary and middle school.. one boy crush for 7 years), playing lion king off the top bunk where Scar would throw Simba's dad off the cliff, but you don't want to read a laundry list of my childhood activities. Just note that they are sporadic and random and centered a lot around something I didn't actually love all that much.
One day I realized I was lying to myself. I loved the clarinet. On that day, I gave all of my horse toys to my younger sister and never really played with them again. (I still doodled on all of my school papers, though.) My dream of going anywhere with the clarinet died with my college grades, tendonitis, and bank account balance. It's hard to go to college and get good grades when bipolar disorder has one by the throat. Pre-diagnosis problems.
All of which is leading to my point: I have no idea what I loved doing as a child. So I am an automatic failure as an adult because I'm starting from scratch 20 years late. I'm not good enough at anything to make a real career out of it and I'm not going to be a self-employed knitter. My husband is kind of in the same boat with me. He just switched majors two semesters ago.... to something he loved doing as a kid: writing. So he isn't as lame.
This has made me reconsider what I think of as "success". Am I successful because I actually spent the time to draw, paint, sew or write in a day? Or if I have my own fashion line of knitted sweaters (with cat motifs of course)? Or am I only successful if I have an enormous online following and collectors wanting to pay loads of money for my art? The latter is very appealing to me. In the scriptures, when the people are starting to become wicked again, one of the first things they do is "seek to get gain". Well, yes I am. There's extra pressure because I am the primary income and I'm not making any money right now. My back is still out of commission. I have a bad case of the "I can'ts". To be fair, my early life was not exactly a joy ride.
This is a post about how lame my husband and I are together.
Also a reason why I shouldn't watch people's success stories on YouTube until after I, myself have had success. As per my post last week, there is far too long a list of things I enjoy doing accompanied by an increasing feeling of being left behind by my generation because I'm not actually doing anything about the things I like to do.
Confession: I never liked horses as much as I pretended to when I was a child.
The sister just younger than I was big into horses. She was also the preferred child because I was crazy and we didn't know why yet, so I felt strong compulsion to be first and be better than her. The day she announced she loved horses, I loved them more. (It didn't end until after I left for college, either. The day she decided to play flute, I picked it up and was playing at an intermediate level within two days. She decided to play bassoon instead. I never tried to keep up with her athletics, though. I got fat while she got soccer-chick thighs. I was a passive-aggressive sort of competitive, she was a knock-you-down sort.)
I watched YouTube videos about why Lena Danya and Happy D Artist chose to make art their career. Both of them said it was something they had been doing and loved since they were a child. I've been thinking about how I was as a child. I can remember some things. I spent my time riding stick horses, playing with stuffed animals, swimming in a ditch, crying so hard I passed out, keeping my little sister away from my own friends, drawing horses (well, more unicorns and pegasi than horses) and dragons, throwing fits where I would tear my hair out, playing in our sand box, riding horses, playing horses on my fists and knees until I got rug burnt knees, being so mad I bit my hands, tucking my shirt in and wearing a belt, being secretive about which boy I liked (it was only one, all through elementary and middle school.. one boy crush for 7 years), playing lion king off the top bunk where Scar would throw Simba's dad off the cliff, but you don't want to read a laundry list of my childhood activities. Just note that they are sporadic and random and centered a lot around something I didn't actually love all that much.
One day I realized I was lying to myself. I loved the clarinet. On that day, I gave all of my horse toys to my younger sister and never really played with them again. (I still doodled on all of my school papers, though.) My dream of going anywhere with the clarinet died with my college grades, tendonitis, and bank account balance. It's hard to go to college and get good grades when bipolar disorder has one by the throat. Pre-diagnosis problems.
All of which is leading to my point: I have no idea what I loved doing as a child. So I am an automatic failure as an adult because I'm starting from scratch 20 years late. I'm not good enough at anything to make a real career out of it and I'm not going to be a self-employed knitter. My husband is kind of in the same boat with me. He just switched majors two semesters ago.... to something he loved doing as a kid: writing. So he isn't as lame.
This has made me reconsider what I think of as "success". Am I successful because I actually spent the time to draw, paint, sew or write in a day? Or if I have my own fashion line of knitted sweaters (with cat motifs of course)? Or am I only successful if I have an enormous online following and collectors wanting to pay loads of money for my art? The latter is very appealing to me. In the scriptures, when the people are starting to become wicked again, one of the first things they do is "seek to get gain". Well, yes I am. There's extra pressure because I am the primary income and I'm not making any money right now. My back is still out of commission. I have a bad case of the "I can'ts". To be fair, my early life was not exactly a joy ride.
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