Breakfast Egg Enchiladas

Yesterday morning Tim let me sleep in and got up with Sebastian. When I got up an hour later the coffee was made, and then Tim cooked scrambled egg enchiladas. He used a store bought, jarred sauce, and our opinion was that it was – meh. It needed more heat. We’ll have to tweak this meal, but didn’t it look pretty!

Easy Supper – Farro Salad, Veggie Chorizo, and Sauteed Greens

Last night was yet another example of Tim’s genius in the kitchen. He had bought a ton of greens at the local farmer’s market – mustard, turnip, kale, arugula…. While chatting with some of the people about greens, somebody mentioned that he loved to eat mustard greens with chorizo sausage, but that he couldn’t since his wife was vegetarian. Tim is not one to be deterred, so even though we’ve tried vegetarian chorizo in the past and it wasn’t that great, Tim remembered that there was still a brand we hadn’t tried. He picked up some up on the way home and sauteed them in olive oil. Chorizo and mustard greens is a great combo!

But the real genius of the meal was the farro salad. This was our first time trying this mostly whole grain (I guess it’s pearled, so part of it is removed or sanded down – I have to do more research into it) and Tim’s preparation was inspired. He tossed it with grated parmesan cheese, arugula, peas, olive oil, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice, which I couldn’t really taste. It was a very satisfying meal.

Mother’s Day Breakfast – Veggie Sausage Scramble

Mother's Day Breakfast!

The not-so-great picture above, is of the breakfast that Tim made for me this morning (again, he got up early with Sebastian and let me sleep in – squee!): Scrambled eggs with veggie sausage (a different one, apple and fennel flavor, I think) and greens leftover from dinner last night (mild mustard greens and turnip greens, sautéed), with a small cheese quesadilla, and a slice of honeydew melon.

Mother’s Day Lunch – Farro Salad and Sardines

Mother's Day Lunch!

As I said, last night Tim made farro for the first time and it was a huge success. We are thrilled that it makes a great leftover lunch and we are going to start making bigger batches for Tim to pack in his lunch throughout the week. As for the sardines, I prefer smaller sardines, but these have a mild flavor and taste good if I just try not to look at them. I pretty much chopped them up with my fork and mixed them into my farro salad. It was like a very grown up tuna-noodle casserole.

And by the way, Sebastian is quite fond of sardines too! I can’t find the photo I took of the first time he ate a sardine, but here is another cheeky pic of him instead.

As you can see, we’ve been eating a lot of eggs and veggie sausage lately. We’re actually trying to find some alternative proteins to that – but this is what you end up with when you have an open-minded meat-eater and a “pescotarian” that hates to cook.

I love it when my husband cooks breakfast on the weekend! And this was partially leftover from our delicious vegetarian fajitas last night – he cooks most of our dinners too. And most of those are great. With only a few misses.

We actually ate green eggs from a local farm. Look at these eggs! Green, blue, and dark brown.

Huevos Rancheros with leftover seitan fajitas and homemade, roasted chile and grape tomato salsa.

 I am one lucky lady!

(P.S. The eggs look normal once you crack them open. Once in a while when there’s a few to many crazy colored eggs, I almost lose my appetite, but the bottom line is – whatever their color – fresh, local eggs really do taste better!)

I felt extremely sad and lonely and my homesickness for Denver (city life) was ultra-strong.

I had already noticed that when I lack sleep – and I’m always lacking these days – I feel depressed. The depressed feelings were just starting to become more obtrusive – lasting longer throughout the day and for more days in a row.

And then, yeah, couple weeks ago it got pretty bad. I was beginning to actually get tearful at times. I haven’t felt that way in a long time, but it’s becoming apparent that this happens to me every couple of years.

Now? I’m almost better again. I’m back to my enthusiasm about my current entrepreneurial endeavor, but it’s at a healthy, non-manic level.

So yeah, I meant to write some posts about depression while I was feeling so blue, but it’s possible that the storm may have passed for now.

Either way, I’m reading Andrew Weil’s book Spontaneous Happiness. Thank you loving hubby for ordering it for me at the library!

And I’m really going to work on getting to bed earlier. Honest!

Like all moms, I’m sure, it’s extremely hard for me to get to bed at a decent hour. I never have time to do the reading and writing I want to do when Sebastian is awake.

Every night I face the dilemma. We make dinner, get the baby to bed, and then, against my better judgement, I stay up too late.

But, I’ve got to take care of me if I want to live my best life.

Maybe a miracle will happen and I’ll suddenly start going to bed between 9 and 10 pm, getting up at 6, exercising, having tons of energy, and living happily ever after!

A girl can dream!

But for now, I’m taking my vitamins, walking as much as I can during the week, and making it a goal to hit the sheets before 10 pm!

What time do you go to bed? What time does your alarm clock (or your kid) wake you up? Does lack of sleep give you the blues?

Tuesday it the day the babysitter relieves me of my precious one-year-old for a few hours so I can catch up on me. On my way home from doing some work in a reserved work-room at the library, I was all excited to deposit the federal tax return check (yeah, we filed late, don’t worry about it) so I could have money in my account without having to worry about transferring money from my husband’s account for awhile. We don’t have joint checking accounts, but with online banking and knowing my husband’s password, I’m free to transfer money from his account to mine any time I wish.

I pull into the drive-through and tell the lady I want to make a deposit. She sends a slip through the shoot and I send back the signed check, my ID, and my debit card.

She then informs me that she is very sorry but she can’t cash the check.

“Okay.” I answer smoothly. “Do I need his signature too?” That seems plausible and I can live with that (despite the fact that he just deposited our state tax refund in his account the other day when we went out to lunch and I didn’t sign it.)

“Well, it’s not that. It’s that he’s not on your account, so we need him to physically be with you. He needs to actually come in and get put on your account. You should call ahead to make sure he brings everything you need for him to get put on your account.”

So I tell her, that’s funny, because he just deposited our other check no problem. Nobody needed me for that even though my name was on that check too.

(And furthermore, we came in and sat down and signed up for these accounts together. How was it not noted that we are somehow connected by marriage then?)

It was just one of those whatever, ridiculous things and I didn’t make a big deal about it, it’s not the bank teller’s fault.

But really. As I was driving away it just kept niggling at me. This didn’t happen when Tim deposited the other check.

And it hit me forcefully upside the head.

I’m as powerless with our finances as a 1950s housewife. Even though I have no qualms about the fact that his money is our money,  (I spent a pretty penny of my own savings on our wedding and when he was in med-school. Our money is our money) and I transfer it to myself as I need it, I do find it very upsetting that there is this unbalance in our access to the money we share as perceived by our bank.

My name is on that check. I would have understood if they just need both of our signatures on the back.

But apparently I need to prove that it’s okay with my husband if that check goes in my account.

It’s not a big thing, but ick! The whole thing just rubs me the wrong way.

It’s so very I Love Lucy.

Oh well.

The Joyful Housewife is about my journey not theirs – and my personal struggle is with clutter, disorganization, and procrastination – especially when it comes to cleaning.

Following are my cleaning and clutter- busting goals for the next month (Febuary)  These are easy things I can start doing regularly that will make me feel better. They are also things that I’ve long had huge aversions to doing.

Blech

1. Wipe my kitchen counters every night. 
I can’t explain why, but I hate wiping counters. When I mention this to people they say things like,

• “I love wiping my kitchen counter!”
• “I ALWAYS have to wipe my counters. I’m like obsessive about it.”
• “It gets so gross if you don’t wipe it.”

Well they’ve already discovered what I’m learning. You really feel better when it’s done – and it’s not that bad to do it. The mental benefit definitely outweighs the physical cost – if only it weren’t so hard to remember that.

2. Clear off and wipe down dining table every night. It really improves my morning when I walk into the room and the table is all cleaned off and wiped down. I think we let things pile up on the table because we don’t have storage space, or know where to put things.

3. Wipe bathroom counters weekly. It is so much easier do to when it hasn’t gotten overly dusty

4. Empty bathroom garbage cans every couple of days. It just looks gross when the wastebasket is full – and then I stress-out when I want to invite someone over or someone stops by.

5. Abide by the “one-minute rule”* to avoid procrastination. I stumbled upon this idea at Gretchen Rubin’s website about her best-selling book The Happiness Project. She explains it in a few different posts and videos. Basically, if it will take less than a minute, like rinsing a dish, putting it in the dishwasher, filing a piece of paper, etc, then just do it right now. A lot of little things can really add up if you don’t just do them immediately, before they can even have an effect on your psyche.

How does this schedule sound to all you naturally clean people. Does it sound about right?