Staycation, a week of nothing

Joe and I took the last week off of work to do...NOTHING! Originally we were supposed to use all the rest of our vacation days on an actual vacation in October, but I had to cancel at the last minute for a work conflict (super lame...boo adulthood). So, we found ourselves with a few extra vacation days to burn before the end of the year and decided to just relax at home rather than try to plan a whole new trip. I had big plans for the week: we would hit the gym every day, we'd do a bunch of house projects, I'd get ahead on my schoolwork....in actuality we became fused to our couch. We watched all six Star Wars movies, and When Harry Met Sally, and the entire first season of Fixer Upper on HGTV (and a bunch of other random stuff I can't remember).  Most importantly, we relaxed, and we even slept past 7am a couple times!
We didn't go to the gym once, but we did de-wallpaper the last bedroom upstairs and paint it. I didn't get ahead on my schoolwork, but I did get everything done that was due this week. You can't tell after a week of making a mess in it, but I actually cleaned the entire house top to bottom in every nook and cranny the first day we were home. We got all our Christmas decorations up, I made some great meals, we knocked off an entire case of wine, and I only felt slightly guilty about not checking my work email (I literally haven't checked it once!). We laughed a lot, we relaxed and we had a great week on our little staycation, I highly recommend it!
Vacations are great, I love drinking a pina colada with my toes in the sand as much as anyone, but there's plenty to enjoy at home too. Vacation's not about the beach, it's just about escaping your responsibilities for a week.  We were able to get a few things done around the house that we've been pushing off, get in plenty of relaxation and lots of play time with the pups all without ever leaving the comfort of home! To me, it was more relaxing than a vacation because I didn't have to stress out over travelling, boarding the dogs, and how much money we were spending (no matter how much we make, I think I will always feel guilty spending money on a vacation rather than paying down debt or improving our house). So, even if all you can do is clear one weekend to do nothing, do it.  Take a few days to really relax, appreciate what you have, and enjoy doing nothing!

I hate Halloween

Ok, maybe hate is a strong word but I definitely don't like Halloween and it's not something I look forward to. My mom also admits she does not like Halloween. When we were wee children she of course dressed us up in cute costumes, and she always decorated the house and dutifully handed out Halloween to the 100+ kids that showed up at our door. (That is not an exaggeration, I grew up in cookie cutter suburbia with hundreds of houses on 1/4 acre lots and an apartment complex at the end of the street...there were over 100 kids that came most years.) My sister and I matched for at least our first 5 Halloweens. Usually my mom made our costumes out of sweatsuits with some felt sewed to them (one year we were skunks...SKUNKS...black sweatsuits with a white felt strips sewed down the back and little tails). My first Halloween my parents were not planning to dress me up and take me out but then at the 11th hour they realized I WOULD NEVER BE CUTER so they dressed me up as Goldilocks by gluing 3 little Teddy bears to my onesie and making me a wand and crown...I don't think Goldilocks had a wand or crown so that part made me look more like Glinda the good witch but either way I was adorable. Arguably my best year was when I was this clown:

I was so adorable that my Aunt Vanessa hung a 3x5 ft. poster version of this exact picture in her apartment for years. But somewhere along the way I lost my enthusiasm for Halloween. By the time I was in high school my mom no longer allowed me to trick-or-treat. She thought Halloween was a kids holiday and high school kids only got into trouble when they went out on Halloween...she was half right. So I only needed a costume for school events and/or parties. 

I called my mom before writing this (mostly to get a copy of the above picture) and I asked her why she hates Halloween.  She responded that she doesn't hate Halloween but she doesn't really like it and she decided it's mostly due to a lack of creativity/art talent.  She was never particularly good or creative with costumes, and when she said that I instantly related. 

I cannot design or come up with a clever costume to save my life, which means my only option is to buy a costume.  But, I think it's ridiculous to spend over $100 on an outfit that I am going to wear for one night and most likely ruin in the process. In high school and college I remember feeling enormously pressured to dress slutty on Halloween (we've all seen Mean Girls) so that boys would pay attention to me...thank God I am at least past that point! So this year the whole family, dogs and all, are doing a Star Wars theme...we're all wearing pajamas and I spent less than $100 on all four costumes.  That is a Halloween I can get behind! 

I also decided I really hate pumpkin carving. We had friends over recently for pumpkin carving and a fire (so fall, so New England) and I carved a pumpkin for the first time in probably 10 years. I don't remember ever liking it but it seemed like a cool festive thing to do so I gave it another chance.  I hated it, the pumpkin goop was gross and out of 5 pumpkins carved, mine looked the absolute worst.  (It was supposed to be Casper...apparently it just looks like a cross.) The only thing I actually like about Halloween is eating candy...and I don't need a holiday for that!  I like dressing up the dogs now that we have them, but I hate dressing up myself.  I'd rather just hang out with my friends in my normal clothes than have to go through the effort and expense of coming up with a costume. 

Sorry Halloween lovers...I just don't get it...Halloween is the worst of all holidays, especially since we don't even get a day off of work! 

Serious Question...how do you discipline a dog?

Joe and I are having some great sneak peaks at parenting by having dogs. Coby has been a little jealous of Otto and all the attention he is getting...so last week he acted out a little...by destroying the comforter on our bed:

I was at work when this happened, so Joe is the one who discovered this and he was not calm in his reaction. I only know what he told be but apparently he yelled at Coby a lot, the dog got scared and ran away from him (falling down half the stairs when he fled) and then Joe tied him up outside to think about what he had done. I thought, oh our poor baby is feeling jealous and he is acting out to get attention. I will give him some attention and then hopefully he won't act out....I took him to Petco when I got home and we got treats and a new toy.  He hasn't acted out since but we're not sure who's strategy worked...

Also, Otto has not been an angel lately either. He discovered his voice and at times the constant yapping is very trying on my patience no matter how cute he is.  I have accepted the fact that we need to take him to an obedience class. (I feel the need to note here that before we had dogs I totally judged my friends dogs and I was like "OMG their dog is NOT well trained...they need to do something about that." And even when we got Coby he was already trained and a perfect angel--minus his furious and uncontrollable humping of other dogs-- but now that I have a puppy that we have to train from the ground up...I am sorry for judging!)  It is SO HARD to discipline that adorable little face. One day Otto bit my nipple...hard bite...no bra...and it was sooo painful and grabbed him and slammed him down on his back and yelled at him. But then he gave me little puppy eyes like "Mom why are you mad I thought we were playing" and I felt awful and cuddled him for like 10 minutes. He's also in the habit of making a huge mess of his water bowl and still hasn't quite mastered going to the bathroom outside:

As you can see, I cannot discipline him and he can do no wrong.  This is not boding well for parenthood...though I think it makes a big difference with humans that speak but still I can't imagine myself yelling at a three year old. So we are taking Otto to obedience classes soon (haven't actually signed up yet but found a reasonably priced class right at Petco) and I hope it works!  I am great with positive reinforcement (You peed outside! Here's a treat!) but I don't know how to stop his bad behaviors like barking and dumping out his water bowl on the floor and chewing the couch.  Any suggestions for us in the meantime?  

I love college...

It is no secret that the 4 years I spent at Bryant were pretty much the best years of my life.  They weren't particularly productive years and I made by far my worst decisions during that time; but I learned so much about myself during that time and when I wasn't busy regretting the night before I was having the absolute time of my life. I don't know if going to Bryant made the difference or if I would have had a similar experience at any college but I know I wouldn't trade those four years for anything...even if I knew what Joe and I would be paying in student loans every month I think I still would have done it exactly the same.

Look at me on graduation morning...that's clearly someone who had a good 4 years.

This weekend we are going to our 5 year reunion...I can't believe it's been that long since we entered the real world.  There are still mornings I wake up and think, "nope...too tired/hungover, not making it to class today" quickly followed up by, "shit...I'm an adult...I can't just skip work."  My best friends are all from Bryant, my husband...is a guy I met at Bryant (but thankfully did not start dating until after we graduated and I got some things out of my system).  But it's funny to me how many people from my class that I don't know, despite relatively small class sizes at Bryant.  I was so focused on my own group (rugby...duh!) that I didn't care to get to know anyone outside that circle.  Talking to friends or even co-workers, someone from my year at Bryant will come up in conversation and it will always go something like "Oh come on you must know them, they were friends with so and so? they lived on your floor sophomore year?" and usually the answer is "Seriously unless they played rugby...nope."
Of course I got to know some of my neighbors and people in my classes...and I recognize an awful lot of faces but the only people I really got to know were rugby players and my roommates.  I only hung out with rugby girls, I only dated rugby guys (good thing things worked out with Joe because I was running out of options there).
Today, almost all of my best friends are people I met at Bryant...but I was a bitch to some of them when we were in school because they weren't part of my rugby group.  By the same token some people I played alongside on the rugby field, I hope to never see again. It's made me stop and think twice about the people I am friends with and how I treat the people around me.  I always say I wouldn't change any of my past decisions because they made me who I am today, but I wish I could take back the way I treated some people in college. Other than that...I can't WAIT to go back this weekend and pretend to be a 21 year old college student all over again...seriously we're starting the tailgate at 9:30....

Joseph Martin's Series of Unfortunate Events

Today began just like any other, Joe got home from work around 5:30 in the morning, nudged me awake with a kiss and he fell asleep as I got out of bed to take out the dogs and check on the chickens (new chicken post coming soon).  I went off to work and Joe woke up just after noon, we texted back and forth about groceries and some other boring married people stuff and then he went out to run some errands. Then a little after 2, I got the following text:

My first thought was: "I CAN'T BELIEVE HE GOT PULLED OVER FOR *allegedly* BEING ON HIS PHONE!" This happened to me several months ago and he would NOT let me live it down so I was pretty pumped he got pulled over for the same thing and I could rub it in his face (please note that we both vehemently deny texting and driving, but I use it for my GPS and sometimes yes it's in my hand...back off Johnny Law!) 

My second thought was, ugh of course our insurance is up to date...log into app, screen shot current card, send to Joe. Then I told him not to let them tow his car because I couldn't believe his registration had expired (the car is in my name so I tend to pay attention to these things and we hadn't received any notice in the mail).  I logged into the CT DMV and sure enough, expired. I told Joe to just ask the officer for 10 minutes and I could renew it online but the cop was having none of it. On top of his insurance card not being in the car, and his registration being expired, his emissions test was past due...three strikes. In trying to renew his registration I discovered that I couldn't because his car tax is also overdue...for the town we lived in 2 years ago but the bill was dated for this summer.  Talk about a disaster!  

So the tow truck came, it's a $90 base charge and good thing he was only 3 miles from home so the total was about $110...but only if he could pay in cash. Credit cards and checks aren't accepted, it's cash or the impound lot. The tow truck driver was nice enough to make a detour to the ATM for Joe so that we could just get the car towed home and not pay more to get it checked into and out of impound.  

Cut to: me leaving work early because I now have to take the dog to the vet (regularly scheduled appointment for puppy shots but it was on Joe's schedule), of course Joe had not managed to hit the grocery store before getting pulled over so now we have no food and I can't go to the grocery store because he took my car at work.  (If you've read my previous post about always having a full pantry you know we actually have plenty of food and could probably make it for 3 weeks without hitting the store...but it's not the food I want right now dammit!) 

So tomorrow we have to fix this mess...we can't get a new registration without getting an emissions test and we can't get an emissions test without driving the car to a shop....which is illegal to do without a registration...you see our dilemma?  We also have to drive to the Enfield town hall and find out why they are trying to charge us car taxes 2 years after we moved...and potentially pay $300 in taxes on top of the $110 for towing and the $100 for the registration. On the plus side I'm taking a personal day so at least we'll get to hang out!  When your day goes like this what can you really do other than laugh...

**Sideote: This cop was just doing his job, we have lots of relatives that work in law enforcement and we have nothing but respect for what they do! 

Chicken Parm Burgers!!

Last week, ground chicken was on mega sale at the grocery and Joe is a frugally minded guy so he asked me if I could work with the same ingredient to make different meals all week...challenge accepted!  He bought 4, 1lb packages of ground chicken and I made: Shepard's pie, buffalo chicken burgers, zucchini lasagna and our personal favorite and brand new creation: chicken parm burgers!! According to Joe, they were the best meal I have ever made and that is saying a lot. I don't know if this was an original idea or if I saw a recipe a few months back and sort of forgot about it/turned it into my own but I didn't follow any kind of recipe when I made these. I also don't measure ingredients when I cook, I just put things in until they're the right texture/taste/consistency but I'm going to try to put the recipe here so that you too can have delicious chicken parm burgers:
1 lb ground chicken
1/2 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced (very important to use fresh garlic)
1 egg
3/4 cup italian bread crumbs (this one I'm not sure on I just sprinkle them in until it all makes a burger consistency)
crushed red pepper (I used a tablespoon, use more or less depending on how spicy you like it)
1 cup marinara sauce (I used Prego)

Divide the meat into 3 evenly portioned meatballs, for each meatball take about 2/3rds to make a nest and fill the next with a tablespoon of red sauce

Use the other 3rd of the meatball to make a flat pancake that you put on top of the nest and pinch the edges together to seal it.  I thought this would result in a squirty, messy, oozy sauce situation when you bit into the burger but it didn't, it just kind of cooked in and gave the burger the perfect flavor and moisture.  I cooked them in a non-stick frying pan for about 5 minutes on each side and topped them with a little more sauce and parmesean cheese.  For the bun, I used bulkie rolls but I turned them into garlic bread with the help of some butter, garlic powder and my toaster oven, the result was this:

I'm not a great photographer, so it tasted better than it looks. This is definitely not a healthy recipe, but it is a delicious one. Joe even said I should start my own restaurant and serve just this sandwich...so try it out and let me know if you agree! And if you don't think it's that good you probably did it wrong so you'll have to come over for dinner sometime and try mine :)

Healthy alternatives to pizza and wings now that FOOTBALL IS BACK!!!

We are in week two of the NFL season and football is back in full swing! Football is a religion in the Martin household, and we pretty much watch every Monday and Thursday night game regardless of who is playing and of course ALL DAY on Sunday. I love football because it means I have an excuse to kick back and relax, crack a beer (or 6) and stuff my face with game food. Game food traditionally means a steak and cheese, giant pizza and wings, nachos, or some other kind of meat-filled fat-fuelled meal. Although this is a delicious tradition, my body doesn't bounce back the way it used to from boozy feasts. So this year I am on a mission to enjoy football in all it's glory with healthier but still delicious meals (sticking with the 6 pack though). 

Week 1, I tried my first healthy football meal. We had friends over and it was something I never made before which is always a little nerve-wracking but I figured if it was really gross we'd just order a pizza and try again next week. I found the recipe for a crockpot quinoa enchilada bake via a Google search that led me Here. I'm happy to report that it was delicious and everyone (even Joe!) agreed!! I took the original recipe and tweaked it a little, I used a 12 oz can of corn instead of frozen corn and I didn't measure the onion or pepper I just sliced a whole one of each and threw it in there. I also couldn't find a 19 oz can of enchilada sauce so I used 2 10 oz cans, and the enchilada sauce was the only thing we couldn't seem to find an organic version of but 90% organic is still pretty good.  Also I garnished with TONS of cilantro because it's my fave and I meant to get some avocados too but I forgot and I think it was still delicious without the avocado. 

I still killed a 6-pack on Sunday, but didn't wake up on Monday feeling horrible about what I ate or weighing 3 lbs more than the day before and I didn't feel like I missed anything by eating a healthier food selection. The Martins will be trying new healthy football meals throughout the season and I'll report back to you guys on the good recipes I find.  Cheers and GO PATS!!!